Spaceq

"We're on a cliff." That's how Don Osborne, President of MDA's Information Systems in Canada, described the current status in Canada without a new space strategy in place. But before you get too alarmed, Osborne did say he's optimistic that the government is listening, which suggests that a new meaningful space strategy is forthcoming.In the tenth episode of the SpaceQ podcast I spoke with Don Osborne, President of MDA's Information Systems Group. Osborne's role is to manage MDA's operations in Canada, reporting to CEO Howard Lance, who is based in San Francisco.In my wide ranging interview, Osborne and I discussed MDA's operations from coast to coast before transitioning to specific issues. Those issues included growth opportunities, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, workforce issues if the government doesn't enact a new space strategy without new programs, Artificial Intelligence and space, UAV's, Canadian defence procurement, the moon, Mars and other topics.Osborne sees growth for MDA in Canada, in part

In this episode I welcome back Wayne Ellis, a space and defence consultant with AppSpace Solutions of Winnipeg, and a past president of the Canadian Space Society.In today's show, Wayne and I discussed some of the notable current events and touched on the ongoing debate of Moon vs Mars, and what the government provides in the way of of infrastructure and imagination leadership.Here are the topics for today's show:- Moon vs Mars (0:41 - 11:44)- SmallSats and Big Data (11:45 - 21:33)- More water on Moon? (21:34 - 27:05)- The latest Canadian Space Agency call for ideas (27:06 - 35:18)- Canadian trade agreements and the space industry (35:19 - 40:27)- The SEDS Canada Canadian Reduced Gravity Experiment Design Challenge (40:28 - 45:45) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In episode 8 of the SpaceQ podcast our guest is Ryan Anderson the lead organizer of Satellite Canada, an organization created to compete for a piece of the governments new $950 million Innovation Superclusters Initiative.Recently the government announced its Innovation Superclusters Initiative where it would invest $950 million in up to five superclusters. Each supercluster will be funded in the amount of $150-$250 million and selected organizations must match the federal funding.After the government made its announcement Ryan began an effort to create a satellite supercluster called Satellite Canada. Ryan recently submitted Satellite Canada’s letter of interest. In doing so he received 39 letters of support from organizations across Canada and commitments of $328 million from those organizations. That’s quite an achievement, and today I’ll discuss with Ryan how he managed to get the space community to work together on this initiative and what’s next. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Moon Express has raised $45 million(US), built hardware, tested some of it, and gotten the FAA and other government agencies to approve of its first commercial mission to the moon, and in less than a year might have its first spacecraft on the moon.In this episode of the SpaceQ podcast Bob Richards, CEO and co-founder of Moon Express talks about the latest news from the company, including how lunar samples they return could be worth tens of millions, possibly even hundreds of millions. If true, and if Moon Express can return those samples, then an important part of their business plan will have been accomplished and a new commercial frontier will have been opened up.Bob Richards is well known within the space community having been a co-founder of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, the Space Generation Foundation, the International Space University and Singularity University. Before founding Moon Express, Bob was also a founder of Odyssey Moon in 2006, the first registered team in the G

The latest SpaceQ podcast is out and this week we're doing something a little different. My guest is Wayne Ellis, a space and defence consultant with AppSpace Solutions of Winnipeg who was also a past president of the Canadian Space Society.Instead of an interview, Wayne and I discussed some of the notable current events including Canada's new astronauts and the value of the astronaut program, the Space Advisory Board space strategy consultation, the government's Innovation Superclusters Initiative, space and the new defence policy, satellite servicing and the reconstituted U.S. National Space Council. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Jim Cantrell, CEO and founder of Vector Space Systems.Vector Space Systems may be a company that’s only a year old, but it's built on a strong heritage of individuals, hardware and they recently closed their Series A round of founding with Sequoia Capital for $21 million.They are building a family of launch vehicles and a small satellite constellation to become the Amazon Web Services in the sky. They are entering a market space where there is a shortage of small satellite launch capacity and if they can get their launch vehicles operational in the time frame they’ve set out, they have an opportunity to capture some of the small satellite launch market. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Peter Visscher, Chief Technology Officer at Ontario Drive and Gear.Ontario Drive and Gear is not your typical space company. In fact, for most of its 55 year history, Ontario Drive and Gear had nothing to do with space, that is until 2008. And still today, this New Hamburg based business, just west of Kitchener-Waterloo, is still primarily known for developing gears and transmission systems as well as their ARGO all terrain vehicles.How they got involved in the space sector is part of the story we’ll hear today. The other part of the story is how this company has turned that involvement into a new commercial line of XTreme terrain robotics, or XTR, and how their robotic mobility platform might be roving the surface of the moon in the not too distant future. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Jessica West who is the Project Manager for the annual Space Security Index published by Project Ploughshares.The Space Security Index tracks developments and activities related to four indicators of the security of outer space - environmental sustainability, access to and use of space, technologies for space security, and space governance - to capture long-term changes.Today, we’ll discuss several topics from the latest Space Security Index including space debris, commercial space, space-based military systems and other important issues. As well, we'll touch on the recent release of Canada’s new Defence policy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On January 14th of this year, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched the first 10 satellites of the Iridium Next satellite constellation. Shortly, another SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch with the next 10 satellites in the constellation to be deployed.Ahead of the scheduled launch, Aireon CEO Don Thoma participated in a media briefing. Here are his comments on the progress Aireon has been making. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest for episode 2 is Aram Kerkonian, a lawyer from Ontario, studying a masters in law and a research assistant of the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University and the co-author of the recently completed Independent Review of the Remote Sensing Space Systems Act.The department of Global Affairs Canada tasked the Institute of Air and Space Law to complete the independent review, the second by the Institute, the first having been completed in 2012.As part of its recommendations the report states Canada should implement a new General Outer Space Act. I discussed that issue and others related to the Remote Sensing Space Systems Act that are important to the space community and Canadians, even if most aren't aware of it.You can learn more about the report on SpaceQ at http://spaceq.ca/independent-review-remote-sensing-space-systems-act/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to episode 1 of the SpaceQ podcast. Our guest for the show is Sylvain Laporte, the president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).Mr. Laporte joined SpaceQ via telephone on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 31, 2017. Since this was the first interview we've ever conducted with Mr. Laporte, we discussed a variety of topics including the current astronaut selection initiative, the CSA's budget, a policy issue, the upcoming RADARSAT Constellation Mission, climate change, space commercialization, the CSA's education and public outreach efforts and some of the concepts for missions beyond low Earth orbit including a possible Canadian effort at the moon. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Short Take is a feature of SpaceQ where we take excerpts from a longer interview and embed them into the article on our website at https://spaceq.ca.In today's Short Take I asked Steve Oldham, Senior Vice President, Strategic Business Development at SSL, for a comment on the new lawsuit SSL filed versus Orbital ATK regarding the data breach on a NASA server. Steve didn't hold back with his comment.Read the story: https://spaceq.ca/is-the-data-breach-by-orbital-atk-of-ssl-data-on-a-nasa-server-corporate-espionage/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Short Take is a feature of SpaceQ where we take excerpts from a longer interview and embed them into the article on our website at http://spaceq.ca.In today’s Short Take I spoke with Mike Safyan and Rachel Holm of Planet Labs.Planet Labs is an earth observation company who see growth opportunities in Canada. In mid-2015 they acquired Blackbridge of Lethbridge, Alberta and their RapidEye constellation of 5 satellites. They also hope to open a ground station in Inuvik sometime this year.Here's the link to the story: https://spaceq.ca/planet-labs-sees-growth-opportunity-in-canada/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Short Take is a new feature to SpaceQ where we take excerpts from a longer interview and embed them into the article on our website at spaceq.ca. In today’s Short Take I spoke with John Isella, of Maritime Launch Services who are looking to open a Spaceport in Nova Scotia for a medium class satellite launch service.Here's the link to the story: https://spaceq.ca/maritime-launch-services-to-decide-on-nova-scotia-spaceport-in-march/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.