Tag Archives: RADARSAT Constellation Mission

SpaceQ present the top Canadian space stories of the year. From the creation of Maxar, a potential new spaceport and more, read what mattered in 2017.

Maxar Technologies President and CEO Howard Lance was on CNBC this afternoon talking about the new company formed from the acquisition of DigitalGlobe by MDA. During the interview he said they would be using a refurbished SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle for the Canadian government RADARSAT Constellation Mission.

Depending on who you talked to at the Canadian Space Society annual Space Summit you might come away thinking optimistically about the future of Canada’s space sector or that we’re on precipice about to fall off the cliff.

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.

Continuing with our Summer Reading Series of articles or interviews that still have some relevance today, we present the June 2012 article I wrote, In the Absence of Government Leadership Canada’s Space Sector Faces Uncertain Future from Space Quarterly Magazine. 

“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.

Welcome to episode 1 of the SpaceQ podcast. Our guest for the show is Sylvain Laporte, the president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) participated for the first time this year in the NASA Space Apps Challenge with a trio of open data challenges of their own. Of the 31 teams that participated in the Canadian venues of Ottawa, Toronto and Waterloo, five were nominated for the CSA to consider.

The Space Advisory Board consultation with stakeholders and the public on a future Canadian Space Strategy have come to an end and now a small subgroup of the Board is focused on writing a report to be submitted to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada sometime next week.

Even as MDA revenues were lower in the first quarter of the year, the company continues with its restructuring to position itself for future growth with a more diversified product base.