Canada In Space

When NASA's Mars 2020 spacecraft launches it will include a helicopter designed to fly only on Mars and will be the first time ever an aircraft will fly on another planetary body.In today's SpaceQ podcast were featuring a Future in Space Operation teleconference with Håvard Grip from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Håvard spoke about the NASA Mars 2020 mission which will includes both a rover and helicopter.The Mars 2020 rover is similar to the Curiosity rover whose mission is ongoing, but will have some different instrumentation. The Mars helicopter that will accompany the rover is quite small weighing only 1.8 kilograms and is about 60 cm in width, though from blade tip to tip it is 1.2 meters.The helicopter is battery powered and is recharged by a solar array. Flights will be short, lasting no more than 90 seconds flying to a height of about 5 meters. The helicopter has a camera. It will fly ahead of the rover to survey the local terrain and transmit the data it collects once it returns and lands at a safe location nearby the rover. It will not takeoff and land on the rover itself after the rover has landed on Mars.You can download the presentation from our website.http://spaceq.ca/the-first-aircraft-to-fly-on-another-planet-will-be-a-mars-helicopter/Listen in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is Aram Daniel Kerkonian. Aram is an expert in space law and policy, a licensed Ontario lawyer and the Chief Legal Consultant of Ardaker Space Consultants. Aram is currently pursuing his doctorate in space law at McGill University's Institute of Air and Space Law, focusing on Canada's regulatory framework related to space.Today we’re going to discuss Canada’s new Space Strategy focusing in part on regulatory frameworks and how updating them will help Canada’s space sector, especially the fast changing commercial space sector. We’ll touch on space mining, ground stations, rocket launches and more. Recently Aram wrote an opinion related to the new Space Strategy.Listen in.Aram Kerkonian recent opinion on SpaceQ:- Finally, a New Canadian Space Strategy – But Wait, What do we do With This?http://spaceq.ca/opinion-finally-a-new-canadian-space-strategy-but-wait-what-do-we-do-with-this/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guests this week are Matt Kozlov, a Managing Director at Techstars and Van Espahbodi, co-founder and managing partner at Starburst. Together they are leading a new Los Angeles based accelerator, the Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator. Applications are now being accepted with a deadline of April 7 for the first cohort.The accelerator is notable in that its partners include NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Maxar Technologies, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and Israel Aerospace Industries.My conversation starts with Matt as Van was delayed. Van joins in around the 10 minute mark.Listen in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is Marina Mississian, Senior Director Space Payloads at Honeywell Aerospace. In 2015 Honeywell announced it was acquiring Cambridge, Ontario based COM DEV. It seemed to be a good move on Honeywell’s part at the time, but by 2017 the market that COM DEV served, primarily the GEO Communication satellite market, had imploded with GEO satellite orders down by almost 75%. Honeywell reacted by right-sizing the COM DEV assets, laying off nearly half the staff. Since then the company has been reinventing itself. Recently they announced a new Greenhouse Incubator to be based in Ottawa.In my conversation with Marina, we discuss the events of the past few years, how Honeywell has reimagined its Canadian space operations, what the Greenhouse Incubator will do, and how the company plans to move forward.Listen in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Investment in space startups by angels and the venture community is growing at a rapid rate according to Space Angels, and that bodes well for the future of the commercial space sector.My guest this week on the SpaceQ Podcast is Chad Anderson, CEO of Space Angels.If you’re a startup then chances are you’ve heard of Space Angels. The financial services company was started in 2007 but it wasn’t until around 2014 that the marketplace was ready for the investment community to make some serious forays into the space sector beyond a company like SpaceX.Typical investment by Space Angels is anywhere from $500,000 to $1.5 million. The company has invested over $30 million to date and this may surprise you, many of their investments are outside the US.In its recently released 2018 fourth quarter report, Space Angels said that US$2.97B in equity capital was invested in space companies globally in 2018 and that number is set to grow even larger in 2019.Listen in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s podcast is all about the moon. I’ll first share some of my thoughts on recent developments with respect to the exploration of the moon by the global space community. Then we have an interview with Pierre-Alexis Joumel, a co-founder of the Moon Race.My interview this week is about the Moon Race competition. The competition is a global initiative founded by Airbus and its international partners including Blue Origin, and is aimed demonstration key technologies required for the sustainable exploration of the moon. The race consist of challenges in four parallel technology streams. If you’re a small or medium business who are interested in getting your technologies demonstrated on the moon then this initiative just might be for you.Listen in.Show notes:- 0:18 Start of my introduction and thoughts surrounding the recent developments on the exploration of the moon.- 7:08 Introduction to my guest.- 7:59 Guest interview.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast was to have aired last week, however the announcement by the Prime Minister of Canada that his government was committing of over $2 billion that will see Canada participate in the NASA led Lunar Gateway program along with funding for new technologies related to the moon meant that we bumped the podcast a week. In its place we had an interview with Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Minister Bains who oversees the Canadian Space Agency.Now, events are unfolding again with a big announcement expected this week, likely tomorrow, news that SpaceQ broke. That announcement is the long expected new Canadian space strategy.It’s important to note we only know a portion of what will be in the new Space Strategy, that being the moon as the highest funded priority. And for this podcast, one of the interesting topics we’ll be keeping an eye going forward is the growing interest at the Provincial level in supporting the space program.With the current events in mind we’ve decided to publish this podcast today as opposed to our regular Thursday. Why? The news tomorrow will have have an effect on the topic being discussed. This podcast was recorded on February 13.My guest this week is the Honourable Jean Charest, a former federal Cabinet minister, Leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party, and former Liberal Premier of Quebec. Mr. Charest was hired by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada to chair the Vision 2025: Beyond our Imagination initiative.That initiative was launched last October to start a new dialogue between industry, government, the public, and other stakeholders. Mr. Charest and the AIAC have held engagement days in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver and at the time of this conservation, in Halifax on February 13. Mr. Charest has also held private meetings including with ISED Minister Bains and several Provincial ministers and leaders.At the end of the consultations a report will be issued which the AIAC will use leading up to the federal election this fall.On a programming note, in the coming weeks our guest will include Chad Anderson of Space Angels, Pierre-Alexis Joumel, the Moon Race and Marina Mississian, Honeywell.Listen in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a special edition of the SpaceQ podcast. Today the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, committed the country to a path that will see Canadian technology and astronauts go to the moon.Canada will participate in the NASA led Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway program and is also funding a new Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program.Shortly after the announcement was made I spoke with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Bains who shared his thoughts on the announcement.Listen in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MDA has been in business for 50 years now, which is no small achievement, and it’s not easy to keep a company growing for a long period of time.In today's SpaceQ podcast I speak with Mike Greenley, Group President of MDA.It’s been nearly a year since Mike was last on the show, and today we’ll discuss MDA celebrating its 50th anniversary this month and the changes at MDA and parent company Maxar since Mike joined the company last year.Companies go through quiet periods, and occasionally turbulent periods. This past year has been a somewhat turbulent period for parent company Maxar. The stock price has plummeted. The GEO satellite communication market hasn’t recovered and now some SSL assets are up for sale. A short seller attacked the company, the company lost its flagship WorldView-4 satellite, and now there are some shareholder lawsuits which could cause some additional problems. These are some hefty issues to deal with. With relative ease, Mike discusses these issues.There's also been another change at MDA, a subtle one, but one which we touched on when Mike joined the company last year. As a share of the overall MDA business, the defence portfolio is in the minority, but it is growing. And contracts from the Canadian Surface Combatant Program which will add upwards of 200 jobs, demonstrate how MDA is once again adapting its business model.Listen in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guest this week is rocket expert Adam Trumpour. By day, Adam is a mild mannered engineer for Pratt & Whitney, by night he works on rockets and helps mentor students interested in rocketry. One of his latest endeavours is student focused Launch Canada Challenge. He’s also involved the $1M dollar Base 11 Space Challenge. Today Adam provides us an update on both projects.Listen in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.