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           By  Chuck Black After almost a year of slowly dropping power output which increasingly limited the type and amount of observations it could perform, the long serving  Microvariability and Oscillation of Stars (MOST) space telescope was finally decommissioned in March 2019 by it's current owners, the Mississauga ON based  Microsat Systems Canada Inc.  (MSCI). An April 13th, 2015 screenshot of the UBC webpage for the MOST space telescope, which lists the partners who contributed to the ongoing success of the mission (including UBC) and some of it more recent discoveries (the UBC web page has since been taken down). As outlined in the April 13th, 2015 post, " The MOST Space Telescope Joins the Private Sector ," the CSA, which had operated MOST since it was launched on June 30th, 2003, withdrew funding for the program on September 9th 2014 as a cost cutting measure. MOST was then purchased from the CSA by MSCI, which contin...

           By Henry Stewart The 2018 State of the Canadian Space Secto r, the latest in a series of annual compilations of Canada's space capabilities produced by the economic analysis and research team at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), is now online. Although it was released on Thursday April 4th, 2019, it's officially a 2018 report using data collected in 2017. The latest report continues to note a long-term pattern of declining domestic sales of Canadian space focused products while international sales of the sames products increase. The front cover of the PDF version of the 2018 State of the Canadian Space Sector Report. Graphic c/o CSA . As outlined in the executive summary of the report: In 2017, the space sector contributed $2.3Bln CDN to Canada's GDP and supported a total of 21,828 jobs. Total revenues in the Canadian space sector reached $5.6Bln CDN for 2017. This is a slight increase over 2015 ($5.3Bln CDN) and 2016 ($5.5Bln CDN).  The Can...

           By  Chuck Black After a month of anticipation, we still don't know much about the new $150Mln  Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP), which is intended to assist small, space focused businesses and distract from the larger 1.95Bln CDN the government has pledged to support the US led Lunar Gateway . There seems to be no Federal government website set up to explain the program and formal inquiries to the CSA from this blog have, so far at least, not led to any " on the record " clarifications. Off the record, " knowledgeable sources " have indicated that the program is " not budget dependent " which could mean that funding is not available this year, or it could mean that the funding will be pulled from other Federal programs and isn't really new funding. We don't really know. Those " knowledgeable sources " have also indicated that the CSA will issue a request for information (RFI) to beg...

           By  Chuck Black Almost a month after the March 6th, 2019 formal release of " Exploration, Imagination, Innovation - A New Space Strategy for Canada " by the governing Justin Trudeau Liberals , it's becoming increasingly obvious that the new Canadian space strategy is simply not the comprehensive " whole of government review " of activities, policies and legislation expected. According to the February 23rd, 2015 Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat website on the Whole of Government Framework , since 2005 the Treasury Board has " supported the development of a common, government-wide approach to the collection, management, and reporting of financial and non-financial information on program objectives, performance, and results. " The whole-of-government framework maps " the financial and non-financial contributions of departments, agencies, and Crown corporations receiving appropriations to a set of 16 high-level Government of Canada outc...

           By Henry Stewart American experts and industry suppliers are slowly chiming in on US Vice President Mike Pence's aggressive demand that the US commit to placing " boots on the Moon " by 2024. The emerging consensus is that the goal is achievable, but difficult and will " require concerted effort by NASA, the White House, and the Office of Management and Budget ." As outlined in the March 28th, 2019 Space.com post, " Can NASA Really Put Astronauts on the Moon in 2024? ," Pence has instructed NASA to put US astronauts on the lunar surface by 2024, four years earlier than previously planned. The article noted that representatives from Denver CO based Lockheed Martin Space Systems , the prime contractor for the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle (Orion MPCV), have indicated that: ... the company could build a crewed lunar lander relatively quickly, by leveraging technologies developed for Orion. This lander could touch down by 2024, provided it de...

           By  Chuck Black It's worth noting that very few large government or private sector organizations ever announce new initiatives unless they're having trouble raising enough money to build the consensus needed for the previous plan. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just the way the world works. It's also worth noting that, in Canada at least, our space program has recently tied its future to approximately $2Bln CDN of new funding over the next twenty-four years to construct an AI turbocharged next generation Canadarm for the NASA led Lunar Gateway . The Gateway is one of two major US programs which could very well end up delayed or on the chopping block to fund this latest, boots on the Moon, US initiative. Or worse, each individual program could continue but no single program would ever receive enough of a budget to ever accomplish something. That would be kinda like how things are now. US President Trump. Photo c/o  Saul ...

           By  Chuck Black The Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is at least being honest when talking about Federal motivation to participate in the US Lunar Gateway . As outlined in the March 6th, 2019 Canadian government press release, " Launching Canada's Space Strategy ," the key priority of the strategy is " investing in science, innovation and research " which, according the press release, will unlock " new opportunities for economic growth ," create " thousands of jobs for hard-working Canadians ," and help Canadian's " understand the world we live in and our place in it ." But while there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the government's stated motivations, some (in office and elsewhere) have argued that the Moon is now " the central focus of the new space strategy and investments ," despite what the press release explicitly states. Those arguments are obviously in error. The new p...

           By  Chuck Black It wasn't a bad press conference, if you ignored the fact that it was set up mostly to release documents intended to support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 's February 28th, 2019 press conference announcing Canadian support for the US led Lunar Gateway program and funding for the construction of a new $2Bln CDN " Canadarm3 ." There was also the question of why the language used by the presenters seemed targeted more at the elementary school children attending the event than at the Canadian taxpayers expected to pay for the program or the scientists, engineers and businessmen expected to build and manage the new Canadarm. Be that as it may, on March 6th, 2019 Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains formally announced the release of the written copies of " Canada's New Space Strategy ," at the Telus " World of Science " Centre in Edmonton AB to an audience of mostly elementary school students. As outlined in the March 6th, 20...

           By  Chuck Black Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada will become the first international partner to join the US led  Lunar Gateway program , a plan promoted and managed by NASA but expected to be partially funded by multinational contributions from countries such as Canada. Trudeau's announcement is the first formal statement of commitment to the program from another nation. The NASA Lunar Gateway is intended to serve as a follow-on program to the current International Space Station (ISS) and will serve as a stepping stone for NASA's deep space exploration plans. NASA's newest best friend. Canadian PM Trudeau explaining that " Canada is stepping up " to build another Canadarm for the US Lunar Gateway and also contribute in other ways. According to Trudeau, the new Canadarm " that will repair and maintain the Lunar Gateway " will be " built in Canada by Canadians ," although he didn't say which domestic (or for...

           By  Chuck Black The 2019 Canadian Federal Budget (expected to be tabled in the Canadian House of Commons on March 19th, 2019), along with the fourth quarter 2018 report (expected on February 28th, 2019) and the year-end stockholder meeting (currently scheduled for May 8th, 2019) of Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies , are currently the hottest topics of gossip among those who focus on the Canadian space industry. How did that happen? It's because Brampton ON based MDA is both the maker of Canada's iconic Canadarm and a Maxar subsidiary. Since the formation of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in 1989, the space industry in Canada has been wrapped around Federal government funding for its favorite contractor. This state of affairs is in the midst of changing. But change comes slowly to the industry and many are hoping that change will be delayed or superseded by announcements deriving from one or more of those events. As outlin...

           By  Chuck Black The Washington DC based Wilson Center , the US think-tank which organized the September 7th, 2018 event " Over the Horizon: A New Era for Canada-US Space Cooperation? " which included many US and Canadian senior space focused bureaucrats, has published a February 2019 White Paper on " The Potential for a US-Canadian Spacefaring Partnership: Canada’s Role in The US Return to Space Leadership ." The front cover of the twenty-one page February 2019 Wilson Center position paper on " The Potential for a US-Canadian Spacefaring Partnership: Canada’s Role in The US Return to Space Leadership ." Graphic c/o Wilson Center . As outlined in the position paper: Canada has a well-developed partnership with NASA that supports space science and exploration, but the changes in US priorities for NASA will require a recalibration of this partnership and open new opportunities for the CSA. Canada’s small but highly regarded commercial space sec...