Canada In Space

Hi, I’m Marc Boucher and this is the SpaceQ podcast.Today we’ve got a special episode for you. On Sunday, January 19 SpaceX performed the Crew Dragon in-flight abort test. By all accounts, and from what I saw, it was a successful test. This means the next launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon, Demo Mission 2, will carry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.As you’ll hear, there’s still more to do before that launch happens. That launch could be as early as this spring, but is more likely to slip into the summer. But make no mistake about it, this was the final major flight milestone that needed to be accomplished before America begins launching astronauts on American rockets from American soil for the first time since 2011, nine years ago.And it won’t just be SpaceX launching astronauts to the ISS. Although Boeing's recent launch of its Starliner spacecraft didn’t go according to plan, and included, what some have characterized as an embarrassing timing issue, the Starliner spacecraft will follow SpaceX and launch astronauts to the ISS.And that America will be back to launching astronauts on American rockets this year is a very big deal. Not just for what it means for NASA, but for what it means to the commercial sector and in particular SpaceX.When Elon Musk started SpaceX his long term goal was to send humans to Mars. With Crew Dragon about to carry its first astronauts into space, making that dream become a reality is very much closer. And while NASA is the first customer you can bet there will be other customers and that SpaceX, which has its own astronauts, will eventually be sending them on their own private missions. And let’s not forget about Yusaku Maezawa, the Japanese billionaire who is paying SpaceX to send him around the moon. That mission could happen before NASA returns to the moon with the Artemis program.But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. I invite you to listen in now to the Crew Dragon in-flight abort test post-launch news conference held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The participants were NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, Elon Musk of SpaceX, Kathy Lueders, manager, NASA Commercial Crew Program and the two NASA astronauts that will be on the next launch, Bob Behknen and Doug Hurley.

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This summer four missions will launch to Mars setting up an extraordinary year for the exploration of the red planet.My guest this week on the SpaceQ podcast is Chris Carberry, the CEO of Explore Mars, a not-for-profit that engages stakeholders in an effort to make a Humans to Mars mission a reality.The organizations holds a variety of events to engage stakeholders including its annual Humans to Mars Summit in Washington every May.Today, Chris will get us caught up on what the organization is doing, the status of a future human mission to Mars, and we’ll talk about the exciting year 2020 will be for Mars.The four missions are NASA’s Mars 2020 rover which includes the first ever helicopter, China’s HX-1 mission which consists of an orbiter and small rover, the European Space Agency's ExoMars lander and rover which has Russia and Canada participation, and lastly the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is sending an orbiter on what they’re calling the Hope Mars Mission. The Japanese are providing the launch for the UAE mission.By my count that’s two new orbiters around Mars, three new rovers, a lander and a helicopter. They join 6 operational orbiters, 4 American, 1 European and 1 Indian, along with 1 rover that’s operational, that being NASA’s Curiosity rover.Listen in.Explore Marshttps://www.exploremars.org/

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Happy New Year, this is the first SpaceQ podcast of 2020 and the last in our three part Winter Series from other creators. Today our podcast is from the Perimeter Institute and features Elizabeth Tasker in a live public lecture from November 6, 2019. Her lecture is titled "Home away from home, the hunt for habitable planets." Tasker is a British astrophysicist, science writer and an Associate Professor at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.As you’ll hear, Tasker is a very good science communicator. In this lecture, she takes a very complicated topic, the hunt for exoplanets, and in particular habitable worlds, and provides the listener with a true appreciation of what we know and don’t know, how we search and where we might find life. I was enlightened by her lecture, and I think you will be as well.Listen in.

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Welcome to the second of 3 podcasts for our annual Winter Series. As with our Summer Series, we’ll be bringing you recent important news updates and talks on topics we think you’ll find interesting from other creators. Our regular interviews will resume on January 14th.On December 4th NASA announced the first results from the Parker Solar Probe mission. The mission is a first of its kind with the probe flying closer to the sun than any other spacecraft before. It’s a risky mission, but with rich scientific rewards expected. And in this news conference, the principal investigators confirm some long thought theories about our star, but also reveal some new mysteries.The seven year mission continues, and just five days ago the spacecraft successfully completed its second flyby of Venus. NASA says the spacecraft used Venus to slow itself down, approaching the planet at a distance of about 3,009 km (1,870 miles) from Venus’s surface during the second gravity assist of the mission. This gravity assist maneuver adjusted Parker Solar Probe’s trajectory to set it up for its fourth orbit around the Sun, or perihelion, which will occur on January 29. Listen in.Time line:0:00 - Intro2:52 - Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington5:16 - Stuart Bale, principal investigator of the FIELDS instrument at the University of California, Berkeley9:21 - Justin Kasper, principal investigator of the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) instrument at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor15:19 - Russ Howard, principal investigator of the Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington21:04 - David McComas, principal investigator of the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISOIS) instrument at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey28:04 - Questions and Answers

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In our first SpaceQ podcast episode of our annual Winter Series we're featuring a Future In-Space Operations teleconference on Maxar's Power and Propulsion Element for the Lunar Gateway.Our annual Winter Series podcast special runs for three weeks during the holiday and features important news updates or talks on topics we think you’ll find interesting from other creators. Our regular interviews will resume on January 14th.In this episode Scott Tilley and Ty Lee of Maxar Technologies discuss a critical Lunar Gateway technology, the Power and Propulsion Element, being developed for NASA.The Power and Propulsion Element is the first element in NASA’s Lunar orbiting Gateway which will form the basis of a sustainable human return to the moon and beyond. It's an important program for Maxar which could lead to years of sales to both NASA and potential future commercial customers. The program is currently in Preliminary Design Phase with the first demonstration element to be launched in 2022.Link to the presentation: https://spaceq.ca/podcast-maxars-power-and-propulsion-element-for-the-lunar-gateway/Listen in.

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This is our last interview of the year before we start our annual 3 week Winter Series podcasts where we feature lectures or news events from other creators. We’ll be back with a new interview on January 14.Ok, my guest this week is Chad English who is an Industrial Technology Advisor for the Industrial Research Assistance Program at the National Research Council. I ran into Chad at the recent Canadian Space Summit where he was a speaker in the “I have 50Mbps! Now what?” session. That session focused on the coming broadband internet to rural and remote locations via Low Earth Orbit satellite constellations like the one Canada's Telesat is trying to build. Other companies looking to this marketplace include OneWeb, SpaceX and others.Chad and I discuss what LEO satellite constellations will mean to those people living in rural and remote communities along with new business opportunities that will be available.Listen in.

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This weeks podcast is another live recording from the Canadian Space Summit. The speaker is Rob Postma, Vice President and Head of Governmental Export, Space Systems, Airbus.As you’ll hear Rob say, this talk, titled, Airbus 50 years pioneering progress, is meant to provide a picture of what Airbus has accomplished but more importantly what it’s planning.Listen in.

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This weeks podcast is a live recording from the Canadian Space Summit. The opening keynote speaker for the conference was Sergy Mummert, Senior Vice President, Global Cloud & Strategic Partnerships, SES Networks.While the focus of the talk is on SES Networks with an emphasis on the how they’re building a Cloud-Optimized Satellite Ecosystem and their O3b Medium Earth Orbit constellation, it’s important to note why they were a key sponsor to the conference.While SES has been doing business in Canada for many years, including owning a majority stake in Ciel Satellite Group, they're now opening a new Canadian office with the aim of having a greater presence in Canada. They’ve hired their first Canadian employee, John Clarke, an industry veteran, as their Senior Sales Director.Listen in.

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Today we’re doing something a little different. On this episode I’m going to provide a recap of last weeks Canadian Space Summit. Listen in.

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Today our guest is Jessica West of Project Ploughshares, the editor of the 2019 Space Security Index. The index, in its 16th edition, looks at the global space sector to track trends in the use of outer space from a sustainability perspective.The 2019 index covers the 2018 calendar year and includes the following data from the report. "Space activity is flourishing. In 2018, 71 countries owned satellites. Seventy-two national space agencies spent a combined $70 billion. Eleven new agencies were created or announced. Some of the 2,062 active satellites saved 2,700 lives. The satellite industry earned $277 billion, while startups secured $3 billion in private investment.”The new report contains positive developments, but clearly shows more work needs to be done.Listen in.

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