I have been trying to wrap my head around the Canadian space program for the last couple of days. I knew it exists, but compared to my knowledge of the American or European programs, I knew nothing at all beyond the CanadArm (more about that later).
What whet my appetite was this chart from [SpaceTech Analytics]() that shows comparing number of companies Canada has the third largest space industry in the world.
Source: SpaceTech Analytics.1
This differs starkly from what I expected. Other than the CanadArm and a small program at the University of Lethbridge, I found I couldn't name space companies. I know of the Canadian Space Agency, but could not think of a single initiative of theirs. How embarrassing!
To organize my thoughts, I put together an initial mind map. Obviously, there's a lot of work to go before it's anything like complete. It's based on the table at the end of the article.
As I dug around, read through Twitter feeds, etc., there were three companies that caught my attention. The first is MDA, a long-time leader in Canadian space. Maritime Launch is interesting, not so much for what it's accomplished as the audacity of its vision. The third SpaceRyde, a small Ontario company aiming to give Canada launch capabilities.
MDA
MDA, the company that makes the CanadArm, has recently received a contract for the third iteration. The initial arm went up with the space shuttles. The second arm is on the international space station (ISS). But the third arm is going a lot further afield, as it will be part of the lunar mission. Their video from a year ago provides good background on the project's challenges.
SpaceRyde
SpaceRyde, is racing to provide Canada with launch capabilities instead of needing the services of Americans or Russians. This is a key capability, and the approach is innovative. The company proposes to launch their rockets from balloons and their demonstration flight over a year ago shows all the technical challenges they have already cleared on the way to going orbital.
The unique approach has been turning heads in the media.
Maritime Launch
Maritime Launch also has terrific plans to create Canadian launch capabilities, but with an entire spaceport on Canada's East coast. Stephen Matier founded the company after working on Spaceport America, a new space facility in New Mexico. Matier saw an opportunity to create launch capacity further north and has worked closely with many organizations in Nova Scotia to build community support for the project.
Appendix: Table of Companies
| Company | Work | URL | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AlbertaSat | Satellites | https://albertasat.ca/ | https://twitter.com/AlbertaSat | https://www.facebook.com/AlbertaSat | https://www.linkedin.com/company/albertasat/ | https://www.instagram.com/alberta_sat/ |
| Canadian Space Mining Corporation | Mining | https://www.csmc-scms.ca/ | https://twitter.com/csmc_scms?lang=en | https://www.linkedin.com/company/canadian-space-mining-corporation/ | ||
| DAIR (Downsview Aerospace Innovation & Research) | https://www.dairhub.com/ | https://twitter.com/DAIR_Hub | https://linkedin.com/company/dairhub | https://instagram.com/dairhub | ||
| GHGSat | Satellites | https://www.ghgsat.com/ | https://twitter.com/ghgsat | https://www.facebook.com/GHGSAT | https://www.linkedin.com/company/ghgsat-inc/ | https://www.instagram.com/ghgsat |
| Institute for Earth and Space Exploration | Research | https://space.uwo.ca/ | https://www.facebook.com/WesternUniversity | https://www.linkedin.com/school/166689/ | https://instagram.com/westernuniversity | |
| Institute for Space Science Exploration and Technology | https://www.ualberta.ca/institute-for-space-science-exploration-and-technology/index.html | |||||
| Maritime Launch | Spaceport | https://www.maritimelaunch.com/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/maritimelaunch/ | |||
| MDA | Robotics,Satellite | https://mda.space/en/ | https://www.twitter.com/mda_space | https://www.facebook.com/MDAspace | https://www.linkedin.com/company/mdaspace | https://www.instagram.com/mda_space |
| Mission Control | Software | https://www.missioncontrolspaceservices.com/ | https://www.twitter.com/MissionCtrlSS | https://www.facebook.com/missioncontrolspaceservices | https://www.linkedin.com/company/mission-control-space-services | https://www.instagram.com/missioncontrolspaceservices/ |
| Skywatch | Satellites | https://www.skywatch.com/ | https://twitter.com/SkyWatchApps | |||
| SpaceRyde | Rockets | https://www.spaceryde.com/ | ||||
| Stardust Technologies | https://stardust-technologies.com/ | https://twitter.com/stardusttech | https://www.facebook.com/StardustTech/ | https://fr.linkedin.com/company/stardusttechnologies | https://www.instagram.com/stardust_technologies/ | |
| Wyvern | Satellites | https://wyvern.space/ | https://twitter.com/wyvernspace | https://www.facebook.com/WyvernSpace/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/wyvern-space | |
| Zenith Canada Pathways | https://www.zenithpathways.ca/ | https://twitter.com/zenithpathways | https://www.facebook.com/ZenithPathways/ | https://ca.linkedin.com/company/zenithpathways | https://www.instagram.com/zenithpathways/?hl=en |
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SpaceTech Analytics. (2022). SpaceTech Industry: 2021 Year Overview. https://analytics.dkv.global/spacetech/s%d1%80%d0%b0%d1%81%d0%b5tech_industry_year_2021_overview.pdf ↩