CSA Exploration
CSA Exploration. Credit: CSA.

The Canadian Space Commerce Association Releases Report From the Space 2.0 Roundtable

The Canadian Space Commerce Association along with the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada which organized the Space 2.0 Roundtable at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters in February, has released a report from the event and one of the presentations.

The seven page report covers Defining New Space, the Regulatory Environment, the Financial Ecosystem, Government Procurement, Policy-Related Topics and lists Outcomes and Next Steps.

Participants in the Event

  1. Industry Associations – Canadian Space Commerce Association (CSCA), Aerospace
    Industries Association of Canada (AIAC).
  2. Space companies – MDA, Urthecast, Planet, GHGSat, Deltion, Airbus Defence and Space, Mission Control, ABB, Kepler Communications, Canadensys Aerospace, Honeywell Aerospace, Aflare Systems, Northstar, Magellan Aerospace.
  3. Support industry – Euroconsult, BMO Nesbitt-Burns, Quantius, Dentons Canada LLP.
  4. Government – Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Global Affairs Canada (GAC), Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), National Research Council (NRC-IRAP).

Outcomes

  1. Priorities for further study were identified:
    a. Reviewing regulatory framework for operators’ licensing requirements;
    b. Reviewing international policies and treaties that may impact commercial rights;
    c. Reviewing implementation of IP policies;
    d. Establishing the continuous funding cycle to graduate companies to the next TRL
    level or along commercialization pathway;
    e. Accelerating a company’s ability to work with heritage companies and delivering on
    contracts by linking new space companies to large firms through ITB requirements.
  2. An exit survey was sent to participants to evaluate their satisfaction with the event and
    identify further priority areas for discussion.

Next Steps

  1. Review exit survey results and integrate findings and follow-up actions into the next
    industry-government meetings on New Space.
  2. Circulate current roundatble notes and have a conference call in 3 months with interested participants.
  3. Organize the next broad-based panel or roundtable, potential venues and dates:
    a. CARIC Space Technology Panel (Vancouver, August, 2017);
    b. CSCA SmallSat Symposium (Toronto, October 17-19, 2017);
    c. AIAC Canadian Aerospace Summit (Ottawa, November 7-8, 2017).
  4. Organize working groups on targetted priority areas. It was suggested that the AIAC-CSA Working Groups that were established last year could be used for this purpose. A wider participation, beyond AIAC members, would be invited to join.

Download the Space 2.0 Roundtable Report

Also available is the presentation made by Mike Safyan of Planet.

One of the points that stands out from his presentation is: “Planet has licensed ground stations in the following countries with no additional ‘remote sensing’ review”:

  • United Kingdom
  • New Zealand
  • Germany
  • Australia
  • Iceland
  • South Africa
  • Norway
  • Chile

And the last slide in Safyan’s presentation speaks to this point.

Planet Labs Space 2.0 Slide
Credit: Planet.

To learn more about the issues surrounding Canada’s Remote Sensing law please read our exclusive story from last week A Review of Canada’s Remote Sensing Law Recommends Creating a New General Outer Space Act.

About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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