SpaceQ Space news and analysis.

After two years of holding a joint space mining conference in partnership with the Space Resources Roundtable (SRR), organizer Dale Boucher from the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology Inc. (NORCAT) says space and terrestrial mining are becoming more “joined at the hip” and as such, it’s becoming more feasible to do such work in space.

As the space shuttle program came to an end the final mission of Atlantis to the International Space Station (ISS) delivered the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) platform which in November will be used to demonstrate and test tools, technologies, and techniques needed to robotically refuel satellites in space. And while the project is a joint effort between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) the …

Date: November 2-3, 2011. Location: Ottawa Convention Centre, Ottawa, Ontario. Web Site: http://www.aiac.ca/ About: The Aerospace Industries Associations of Canada is hosting the First Canadian Aerospace Summit in Ottawa.

Date: November 16-18, 2011. Location: Ottawa Convention Centre, ON. Web Site: http://sciencepolicy.ca/ About: Annual conference on Canada’s science policy hosted by the Canadian Space Policy Centre.

Date: August 25-28, 2011. Location: River Place Park, RR 3, Ayton, Ontario. Web Site: http://www.nyaa.ca/index.php?page=/sf11/sf.home11 About: On cosmic scales, 30 years doesn’t sound like much. And yet, so much has changed in astronomy and for a popular star party that happens every year in August near Mount Forest. Join us as we reflect on the past three decades of Star Fest and amateur astronomy. We’ll …

Date: September 6-11, 2011. Location: Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. Web Site: http://cpsx.uwo.ca/study/2011-short-course About: The Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX) at the University of Western Ontario (London, ON) is pleased to announce the second annual Planetary Science Short Course, to be held September 6-11 2011. This is an intensive 6-day modular course on planetary science. The …

Date: November 23-25, 2011 Location: The Deerfoot Inn and Casino, Calgary, Alberta. Web Site: http://www.css.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=427&Itemid=57 About: The Canadian Space Society’s Annual Space Summit is Canada’s leading conference devoted to space science, research and technology. With an annual attendance of approximately 200 attendees (and growing), the Summit brings together space professionals from industry, academia, government and the military as well as enthusiasts from all walks of …

Date: August 9-11, 2011 Location: John H. Chapman Space Centre in Longueuil, Quebec Web Site: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/events/2011/educators_conference.asp About: Since its inception in 2002, the Canadian Space Agency’s annual Educator Conference has been attended by over 500 educators from across Canada, whose dedication and personal interest in professional development during summer vacation has contributed greatly to the success of this conference

Date: September 27-28, 2011 Location: John H. Chapman Space Centre in St-Hubert, Quebec Web Site: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/events/2011/fpga.asp About: The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is pleased to host a Workshop on the Utilization of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) in Canadian Space Missions. FPGA technology has dramatically evolved over the past years, providing major advantages and exciting new capabilities for development of space-born systems. Development methodology, cost, …

Ottawa based Neptec scored its first post-Shuttle contract last week when it reached an agreement with Orbital Sciences Corporation to provide its TriDAR rendezvous and docking sensor for Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft.