Tag Archives: Military Space

On Monday the Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan announced the launch of the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program. The first call for proposals for the $1.6 billion program includes challenges related to the space domain such as cyber and identifying and characterization of objects in space. With that in mind we’re publishing this story which first appeared in Space Quarterly Magazine in March 2013. …

The Department of Defence (DND) yesterday announced the $1.6 billion Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEeS) program that includes opportunities in the space domain.

With the launch this week of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy and the discussion in the media about Canada’s lack of launch capability, we thought we would publish a couple of articles from the Space Quarterly print magazine archives that have never been published online. The first was published in June 2012 and is written by Canadian journalist and historian Chris Gainor.

The Department of National Defence (DND) this week released the long anticipated Request for Information for the Enhanced Satellite Communication Project – Polar (ESPC-P), or simply called Escape.

If it is said that innovation of defence excellence is the Canadian Department of National Defence’s research and development goal, then it could be noted that Canadian space industry “start-ups” may possibly provide an answer to the space capability requirements that have been listed in the Department’s recent defence policy document.

Four companies have been awarded contracts by the Department of National Defence (DND) for the All Domain Situational Awareness (ADSA) Science & Technology (S&T) program. One of those companies, C-CORE, will use Synthetic Aperture Radar from a High Elevation Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Air System (UAS).

The stars have once again aligned for Canada’s leading space firm. Earlier this month, MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., now known simply as MDA, a Canadian global communications and information enterprise providing technology solutions to commercial and government organizations worldwide, completed its $2.4 billion purchase of DigitalGlobe, an American-based global provider of high resolution Earth imagery and geospatial information.

In this weeks podcast we spoke with Stephane Germain, CEO of GHGSat. GHGSat is an early stage company based in Montreal looking to become the global reference for remote sensing of greenhouse and air quality gas emissions from industrial sites.

Continuing with our Summer Reading Series of articles or interviews that still have some relevance today, we present Craig Covault’s March 2013 article China’s Surging Military Space Program from Space Quarterly Magazine. Of note, China has completed eight launches to date this year with one failure and another satellite being placed in the incorrect orbit.  Two communications satellites, one of which is for a military use, were successfully placed …

“We’re on a cliff.” That’s how Don Osborne, President of MDA’s Information Systems in Canada, described the current status in Canada without a new space strategy in place. But before you get too alarmed, Osborne did say he’s optimistic that the government is listening, which suggests that a new meaningful space strategy is forthcoming.