Beatrice Britneff
On the eve of the Canadian Space Agency’s 25th birthday, space experts are warning that the agency will become irrelevant unless it works closer with private aerospace companies and allows them to lead development of new space technologies.
To date, private companies have relied on agency contracts to build new space technologies — from satellites to heat shields. However, these companies are innovating faster than ever and the agency is not creating enough opportunities for them, said Chuck Black, director of the Canadian Space Commerce Association — a group specializing in economic opportunities for aerospace companies.
As a result, companies including B.C.-based Thin Red Line Aerospace are developing new space machinery and hardware independently of the agency. Some of their projects have made it to outer space through collaboration with American companies.
“There was a time when you needed a national space agency to do that, but not anymore,” Black said.
Canada’s space agency was established March 1, 1989, to help the government co-ordinate its contributions to the International Space Station. However, the agency expanded its mandate to co-ordinate most of Canada’s space activities, including earth observation and communications satellites that provide data to government departments.
Today, the agency employs 670 people — 90 per cent of whom work at the headquarters in Saint-Hubert, Que.
Marc Fricker — who works on outreach programs that support Canada’s space industry as vice-president of the Canadian Space Society — said it’s great that companies are building cutting-edge technologies, but the problem is that this is not happening “according to any government plan.”
Black said a good example of a public-private partnership that did work according to plan was the Canadarm — a revolutionary, 900-pound robotic arm used to move equipment on the space station. Built by Canadian company SPAR Aerospace, the Canadarm’s success allowed the agency to negotiate trips to the space station for Canadian astronauts.
Projects like the Canadarm are not materializing now because the agency focuses too much on overseeing projects and dictating design specifics instead of leaving those tasks up to the contracted company, according to Black.
In order to remain relevant, space experts say, the agency needs to catch up with private companies’ innovation, facilitate more public-private contracts, and give aerospace companies creative freedom.
Black and Fricker say they hope Canada’s new space policy framework released Feb. 7 will help reinvigorate the agency’s drive. The agency did not respond to questions about its direction, but the new framework explains that the agency and government will encourage using industry expertise. However, it does not mention how this will be done.
Space experts also agree that more agency funding needs to be dedicated to capacity building to help facilitate more partnerships with private companies.
In 2012-2013, the agency spent $334.5 million, of which 17 per cent was devoted to the Future Canadian Space Capacity program, which encourages public-private collaboration and oversees contracts.
Marc Garneau, a former astronaut and one-time space agency president, said even if public-private partnerships increase, consistent government funding remains crucial for the agency’s survival.
“The private sector is not in the business of investing money into high-risk ventures unless they feel there’s a chance for them to make a profit,” said Garneau, now a Liberal MP. “There will continue to be a need for government investment if there are certain things that we want to do that … is not readily a source of business for the private sector.”
Until 2012, the agency received $300 million annually from the government, but will receive only $260 million by 2014-15 due to a series of budget reductions. The new framework announced no changes to the agency’s annual funding.
Ultimately, it remains critical that the agency realize how far private companies have advanced, the experts say.
“The government is going to ignore these small companies and five years from now, [it is] going to suffer for it,” Black said. “If the Canadian Space Agency doesn’t adopt and embrace these new technologies, it will go the way of the dodo.”
Canadas Space Policy Framework (Text)