usa technology

           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 But change comes slowly to the industry and many are hoping that change will be delayed or superseded by announcements deriving from one or more of those events.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 It's hard be believe that Palo Alto CA based SSL , a subsidiary of Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies , would drop any of its US government contracts, even a public/private partnership requiring private sector funding in order to proceed. After all, acquiring US government and military contracts was the core reason why Richmond BC based MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) began the process of reincorporation, or " US domestication ," which turned the company into US based Maxar, a firm able to bid on American government and military contracts. But, in the latest of a series of odd twists in the ongoing Maxar meltdown, the firm announced earlier today that it has: ...exercised its right to terminate participation in the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program, a public-private partnership with the US  Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), citing a need to focus its resources on ensuring opt...

           By  Chuck Black Stand by for thrills, chills, spills and comedy! Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies has announced the date, time and location for its 2019 annual general meeting (AGM). The theme for the meeting, although officially unstated, might logically be " Yakety Sax ," an instrumental jointly composed by James Q. " Spider " Rich and Boots Randolph in the 1960's, which later gained fame as the theme song for the Benny Hill Show . The program, a skit based British based comedy program which ran from 1969 - 1989, often used the tune for background during scenes where people ran around confused and at high speeds. The confusing component of the Maxar AGM is the part where 90% of Maxar stock value essentially disappeared over the last year. Shareholders are expected to run around at high speeds during the AGM in an attempt to either regenerate the missing stock value or find someone else to blame for the loss. Just like the ...

           By  Chuck Black Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies has been hit by a class action lawsuit from disgruntled Maxar shareholders. The claim accuses Maxar of using its $2.4Bln US ($3.2Bln CDN) acquisition of Westminster CO based  DigitalGlobe  in 2017 to inflate company assets and hide problems with at least one of the vendor’s satellites, the DigitalGlobe WorldView-4 Earth imaging satellite reported lost earlier this month. As outlined in the January 14th, 2019 filing in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado (Case 1:19-cv-00124-SKC) under the title " Logan Durant, et al. v. Maxar Technologies Inc., et al ," the lawsuit claimed that Maxar executives, including ex-CEO Howard Lance, VP and CFO Biggs Porter and executive VP Michael B. (Anil) Wirasekara Jr., provided: ...materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operational and compliance policies (during the period from...

           By  Chuck Black CEO Howard Lance has resigned from his job at Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies effective immediately and been replaced by Daniel Jablonsky, one of his Maxar colleagues who, since October 2017, has also acted as the president of the Westminster CO based Maxar subsidiary DigitalGlobe . New Maxar CEO Jablonsky. Photo c/o  Space Intel Report . Jablonsky will also now sit on the Maxar board of directors, where he will join other DigitalGlobe alumni, including retired US General Howell M. Estes III , the current chairman of the Maxar board (who has also been the chair of the DigitalGlobe board since 2011) and Nick S. Cyprus, the chairman of the Maxar audit committee, who was also previously a director of DigitalGlobe. The circling of the Maxar wagons around the DigitalGlobe subsidiary and it's lucrative US government Earth imaging contracts is simply the final, last ditch effort to keep the wheels twirling on the ...

           By  Chuck Black Just about the time when reasonable people thought the news on Westminster CO based Maxar Technologies couldn't get any worse, another Maxar catastrophe bubbles to the surface. Today's crisis, as outlined in the January 7th, 2019 Maxar press release, " Maxar Technologies Reports Failure of its WorldView-4 Imaging Satellite ," is the announcement from Maxar subsidiary  DigitalGlobe , that its  WorldView-4  Earth imaging satellite has malfunctioned and is no longer operational. As outlined in the press release, the " WorldView-4 satellite experienced a failure in its control moment gyros ("CMGs"), preventing the satellite from collecting imagery due to the loss of an axis of stability. " Efforts to repair the satellite are ongoing, but so far unsuccessful. According to the press release, " at this time, Maxar believes that WorldView-4 will likely not be recoverable and will no longer produce usable imagery ...

           By  Chuck Black RADARSAT-2 , the high-tech Earth imaging satellite held up internationally as a symbol of Canadian technological prowess, was offline in " safe mode " for most of the week and was only revived on Thursday evening, according to Michel Doyon , the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) manager of flight operations, who spoke with this blog earlier today. Doyon also confirmed that the follow-on  RADARSAT Constellation Mission  (RCM), officially scheduled for launch between February 18th - 24th, 2019 will likely be further postponed over concerns about the performance of a reusable Falcon-9 rocket built by Hawthorne CA based  SpaceX  which didn't come down " quite where it was supposed to " earlier this month. As outlined in the December 5, 2018 C-Net post, " SpaceX sends Dragon to ISS but Falcon 9 rocket misses landing pad ," the rocket " succeeded in its primary mission of sending a Dragon spacecraft on its ...

           By  Chuck Black The issuing of multiple contracts totaling $6.7Mln CDN through the Department of National Defence (DND) to eight Canadian and international companies to develop " situational awareness " applications focused around the analysis and assessment of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data-sets generated from Canada's Radarsat program, is typical of the ramp up of any new military program. But the new contracts issued last week could potentially end up being just another example of Canadian ingenuity arriving late to an international party already bursting with experienced data analytics experts and ingenious applications. As outlined in the December 14th, 2018 Government of Canada backgrounder " Government of Canada announces contract awards aimed at improving space-based earth observation capabilities ," the new awards included: Quebec PQ based ABB Canada , which received $305,000, or one half of the $610,000 required to investig...

           By Henry Stewart On the upside, most everyone agrees that Brampton ON based  MDA Space Missions  (a subsidiary of Westminster CO based  Maxar Technologies ) is a US company and will likely become even more of a US based company by the end of the year, so the Canadian government likely won't feel the need to bail it out by purchasing any more expensive third generation Canadarms to keep it solvent. Five day Google market summary for Maxar Technologies stock prices on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) as per 4pm EST on November 1st, 2018. As outlined in the November 1st, 2018 Wall Street Investor post, " Maxar Technologies Ltd. (MAXR) could lead to an upward move ," the stock has lost 76% of its value so far this year and approximately 45% over the last week. Graph c/o Google . On the other hand, the #DontLetGoCanada space advocacy coalition might soon need to attract a new anchor advocate to lead the charge for increased funding for...

           By Chuck Black It's worth noting that public documents from Brampton ON based MDA Space Missions (a subsidiary of Westminster Colorado based Maxar Technologies ) mostly agree with public policy proposals generated by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada (AIAC) and with the rest of the # DontLetGoCanada coalition, regarding the need for a " balanced space program " with a range of funded activities. Except for the part where Maxar/ MDA has suggested that the best way to build that balanced program is to have the Federal government provide several billion extra Canadian dollars for one specific " third generation " Canadarm for the US led Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G or Lunar Gateway). Who would get the lion's share of that single new funding opportunity? Why, Maxar/ MDA of course! In fact, newly uncovered documents indicate that the #DontLetGoCanada organizers may not have even mentioned the funding requirements for a ...

          By Chuck Black Brampton ON based MDA Space Missions (a subsidiary of Westminster, CO based Maxar Technologies ) group president Mike Greenley made an in-person presentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the 2019 Budget . Mike Greenley with Federal Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains in May 2018. As outlined in the May 30th, 2018 Maxar Technologies press release, " Maxar's MDA Drives Innovation in Support of Canadian Government Space Activities ," MDA already receives substantial funding from the Canadian government for its programs. Photo c/o MDA . According to the meeting transcript, Greenley claimed to be representing " several hundred other Canadian companies today that are engaged in Canada's space industry ," likely because of MDA's affiliation with the Don't Let Go Canada advocacy campaign, but spent most of his presentation lobbying for funding for a " third ...