28 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
MDA Press Release
Canada's role and potential involvement in the growing new space economy require a commitment from the Government of Canada for a new space strategy that would secure Canada's place as a leader in space, Mike Greenley, the group president of MDA, a Maxar company, said in a speech to the Canadian Club in Ottawa.
“We need a long-term space plan for Canada that establishes the requisite funding to maintain and enhance our existing world-leading capabilities in space robotics, satellite communications, Earth observation and space science, while cultivating new areas of leadership. And we need it now, because there are pressing decisions that need to be made,” said Greenley.
The most urgent question facing Canada is whether the country will participate in the international space community's next big exploration project.
As governments wind down their investments in the International Space Station, the leading spacefaring nations, including the United States, Europe, Japan and Russia, are planning a return to the Moon in the 2020s.
NASA is planning to build a small space station that orbits the Moon, which will serve as a base for lunar exploration, a platform for science experiments, and a gateway to explore deeper space.
Canada's commitment would involve the development of a third-generation Canadarm, the iconic Canadian space robotics technology featured prominently on the five dollar bill.
Canadian space robotics would provide highly visible, innovative and critical lunar gateway operations, including the assembly of the gateway itself (and its ongoing maintenance), the capture of visiting spacecraft, and the enabling of science conducted in the lunar vicinity.
Given the distance to the Moon, these advanced space robotics would need to operate autonomously, powered by Canadian AI technology.
Subsequent contributions could involve lunar rovers and space medicine technology.
“The international community expects Canada to participate in this mission and to provide the advanced robotics systems for the Lunar Gateway, our area of expertise that no other country does better,” said Greenley. “It is Canada's role for the taking.”
“Making a commitment to participate in the Lunar Gateway as part of the upcoming space strategy would maintain and enhance Canada's acknowledged world leadership in space robotics and signal to the world that Canada plans to claim its place in the new space economy,” said Greenley.
“The value of the global space market reached US$380 billion in 2017, and analysts forecast it will grow to be a multi-trillion-dollar market in the coming decades.”
Participation in space will not only accelerate innovation and fuel Canada's future competitiveness, but will also maintain our country's ability to influence the global discussion around space, said Greenley.
“We know how important it is for Canada to be part of the conversation,” said Greenley. “A re-commitment to space would enhance our ability to participate in shaping developments in space and bolster emerging areas of Canadian expertise like space law.”
Greenley said MDA and other partners in the Canadian space industry will spend this fall talking to Canadians and elected officials about the importance of space.
https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/mda-group-president-notes-opportunities-for-canada-in-space
19 septembre 2024 | International, Terrestre
Natively based on the capability to manage the munitions of the Aster family, it will be able to offer a multilayer capability by integration and coordination of SHORAD and V-SHORAD...
24 janvier 2024 | International, Aérospatial
This work is part of the One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract vehicle.
31 juillet 2018 | International, Aérospatial
by Sandra Erwin “Using hosted payloads may help facilitate a proliferation of payloads on orbit, making it more difficult for an adversary to defeat a capability." WASHINGTON — The Pentagon should use commercial satellites as host platforms for military sensors and communications packages, says a new Government Accountability Office report released on Monday. GAO auditors investigated the pros and cons of “hosted payloads” and agreed with what private satellite operators have been saying for years: The military can save money and get capabilities on-orbit faster by hitching rides on commercial satellites. The industry has been building huge spacecraft that have extra carrying capacity, and hosting national security payloads is viewed as a profitable business that also helps the military fill a need. The report says there are national security benefits to deploying military payloads on commercial satellites. “Using hosted payloads may also help facilitate a proliferation of payloads on orbit, making it more difficult for an adversary to defeat a capability.” Since 2009, DoD has used three commercially hosted payloads, with three more missions planned or underway through 2022. In 2011, the Air Force created a Hosted Payload Office to provide expertise and other tools to facilitate matching government payloads with commercial hosts. GAO found that defense programs using hosted payloads are not required and generally do not provide cost and technical data, or lessons learned, to the Hosted Payload Office. Having that information would “better position DoD to make informed decisions when considering acquisition approaches for upcoming space system designs.” The Pentagon has not been too keen on hosted payloads for several reasons, GAO noted. There is a perception among some defense officials that matching government payloads to commercial satellites is too difficult. Another concern is that DoD's knowledge on using hosted payloads is “fragmented, in part because programs are not required to share information.” DoD officials who spoke with GAO identified “logistical challenges to matching government payloads with any given commercial host satellite.” For example, they cited size, weight and power constraints as barriers to using hosted payloads. Some individual DoD offices have realized cost and schedule benefits, but “DoD as a whole has limited information on costs and benefits of hosted payloads,” said the report. Officials at the Office of the Secretary of Defense told GAO that “matching requirements between government payloads and commercial satellites is typically too difficult for programs to overcome.” DoD's Hosted Payload Office is “developing tools designed to help address these challenges,” said the report. Defense officials also argued that budget and planning processes are a hurdle. “This can complicate alignment with commercial timelines because the development of a government sensor would need to be underway well in advance of a decision to fund a commercially hosted payload approach.” Officials told GAO that it is possible to align government and commercial timelines. For example, the Missile Defense Agency adopted the commercial host's schedule to ensure its Space Based Kill Assessment payload was ready for integration and launch without delaying the host satellite or missing its ride to space. Similarly, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been able to align acquisition and development schedules with the commercial host. In its written comments in the report, DoD concurred with GAO's recommendations and noted that the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center had initiated a major reorganization and that under the new organization, the Hosted Payload Office had changed and may not be the appropriate office for centralizing DoD-wide hosted payload knowledge. Language in the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act directs the Pentagon to seize oversight of military investments in hosted payloads. https://spacenews.com/gao-backs-use-of-commercial-satellites-to-host-military-payloads/