CANADIAN SPACE INDUSTRY NEWS
MARCH 17-23

Here's what you missed:

• 🛰️ Three Canadian CubeSats & hardware arrive at the International Space Station

• 📛 Joshua Kutryk receives Starliner-1 mission patch

• 🌌 MDA announces new product line, adds university partnership

• 🤝 New Spaceport Nova Scotia agreement

• 💰 University Of Saskatchewan receives $17M for space innovation

• 📅 Next Week In Canada's Space Industry: March 24-30

• 📣 New Canadian space jobs, content, what I’m reading

THREE CANADIAN CUBESATS & HARDWARE ARRIVE AT THE ISS

The final three Cubesats from Canada’s CubeSat Project have arrived at the International Space Station.

Ferried in the SpaceX’s Dragon capsule atop the Falcon 9 rocket, the following CubeSats made their way into space during a two-day journey to the ISS.

Killick-1

Designed to detect sea-ice and ocean parameters, Killick-1 is a 1kg, milk-carton sized radar built from aluminum that measures signals from GPS satellites that reflect off the Earth's surface. Killick-1 is a joint project between Newfoundland and Labrador's Memorial University and C-CORE, funded by the CSA.

VIOLET

As New Brunswick's first CubeSat, VIOLET (named after the province's floral emblem) will study space weather in low Earth Orbit.

In a way, VIOLET pays tribute to Canada's first satellite, the Alouette-1 (see orbit logo), as the two were designed to provide insights into the behaviour of Earth's ionosphere.

VIOLET will include three cameras, with one capturing images of Earth for Earth science and meteorology applications. The other two cameras will enable the study of oxygen distribution in the upper atmosphere, and how the ionosphere responds to solar storms.

QMSAT

In collaboration with MDA (get used to reading that), QMSat aims to conduct one of the first demonstrations of a quantum sensor in space.

The magnetometer will assist in capturing measurements that aid in studying the effect of solar storms on several areas including GPS, radio communication, electrical grids, and the flow of magma under Earth's crust.

Also aboard the Dragon capsule were a handful of Canadian experiments that are a mixture of resupply and new initiatives in space.

The Vascular Aging and Vascular Calcium experiments are part of the Vascular series of four experiments that study the effects of weightlessness on astronauts blood vessels and hearts in space.

• Nine astronauts are participating in the Vascular Aging experiment between 2019-2024. They receive ultrasound scans of their head and body before, during, and after the mission. They also wear Canada’s Bio-Monitor smart shirt to monitor their heart and breathing rate.
  

• A total of thirty astronauts will participate in the Vascular Calcium experiment. 10 short-flight subjects, 10 six-month mission subjects, and 10 subjects undertaking a year-long stay on the Station. Candidates will undergo blood and urine tests before, during, and after their mission. They’ll also wear a Bio-Monitor smart shirt.
  

• According to the CSA, after 6 months in space astronauts’ arteries stiffened by 17% to 30%, which could be compared to 10 to 20 years of normal aging on Earth.

Lastly, more seeds from the educational project Tomatosphere were delivered to the ISS. After roughly four weeks in space, the seeds are delivered back to Earth and distributed to classrooms across North America. Students then conduct a blind test where they plant seeds that have gone to space, and stayed on Earth. They then study the differences between the two.

I grew 30+ tomato plants in my garden last year, and would love to blend my two passions in life—reach out if you’d be able to provide some and I’ll be forever in your debt!

JOSHUA KUTRYK RECEIVES STARLINER-1 MISSION PATCH

Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk completed his latest rite of astonaut passage as he received his patch for Starliner-1, his first mission to space.

Kutryk will serve as capsule communication (CAPCOM) during the first ascent and return flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

He’ll spend roughly 6 months on the International Space Station completing a variety of experiments.

Kutryk’s mission patch was designed to reflect the things that he values most in life.

The shades of green represent his childhood home, the Canadian Prairies, as well as healthy food production. The mountains reflect the Rockies.

As an ode to his profession of test and fighter pilot, Kutryk included the first plane to be flown in Canada, the Silver Dart.

MDA ANNOUNCES NEW SATELLITE PRODUCT LINE

MDA announced their new software-defined satellite product AURORA this week at the Satellite 2024 Conference in Washington, D.C.

AURORA aims to “deliver best-in-class satellite performance, attractive economics and more cost-effective constellation solutions,” per Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space.

MDA AURORA features include:

📡 digital payload technologies that contain dynamic in-orbit reconfiguration and meet multiple non-geostationary orbits & frequencies

🖥️ a scalable, regenerative on-board processor that optimizes communication between user, gateway, and inter-satellite links

🛰️ constellation software suite including onboard flight telecom software, real-time digital payload simulator and constellation network manager

🤖 digital payload solutions that leverage automation and AI-enabled robots, in addition to assemblers that use augmented reality to accelerate mass production at lower costs

MDA PARTNERS WITH UBC’s THUNDERBIRD AEROSPACE

While details are currently limited, the University of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Aerospace team announced a partnership with MDA Space.

Their collaboration will kick off during the First Nations Launch competition, an annual NASA Artemis student challenge focused on the design, building, and launching process of a single-stage rocket and payload.

The agreement will extend into future initiatives with Launch Canada. Thunderbird Aerospace aims to inspire and create new opportunities for Indigenous youth in aerospace engineering and STEM fields.

Without a doubt, Thunderbird Aerospace is the owner of my favourite name for a rocket—the STOODIS, meaning “let’s do this.” It is their first solid-fueled rocket that stands at 2.1 meters tall with a 7.5” diameter.

NEW SPACE PORT NOVA SCOTIA AGREEMENT

It was another busy week for Maritime Launch Services (MLS) as they’ve expanded a partnership with Impulso.Space USA Corp by signing a new agreement at the Satellite 2024 Conference.

Over a 5-year period MLS will provide vehicle payload capacity on multiple rideshare and dedicated operator missions from Spaceport Nova Scotia.

Impulso.Space will provide payload integrations services from their ground operations facility located in Florida.

The new agreement expands upon a previous letter of intent (LOI) with Impulso.Space to deploy satellites for small and medium class launches from Spaceport Nova Scotia.

Impulso.Space essentially provides logistical space services including customs clearance, satellite spacecraft shipment, insurance, launch mission management, pre-launch activities, and more.

MLS is aiming to launch their first suborbital rocket in 2024, and first orbital launch in 2025. Their goal is to hit 30-35% launch marketshare and launch 10-15 times a year. MLS aims to generate revenue in the next 15 months.

MLS CEO Stephen Matier shared upcoming plans for the company and their business call during an investor webinar in February this year—you can watch the full presentation below on X:

UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN RECEIVES $17M FOR SPACE INNOVATION

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) fund has provided USask with $17 million to support the High-altitude, Aerosols, Water vapour, and Clouds (HAWC) mission.

The HAWC mission is Canada’s contribution to the the NASA-led four-satellite Atmopshere Observing System mission (AOS). USask will provide climate satellite instruments to

provide scientist with data to analyze factors contributing to climate change.

HAWC’s team is made up of 14 groups of researchers from Canadian universities. Part of the mission includes satellite instruments designed and developed by universities across Canada:

1. Aerosol Limb Imager (ALI) from USask

2. Spatial Heterodyne Observations of Water (SHOW) by

3. TICFIRE (Thin Ice Cloud in Far Infrared Emissions) by

NEXT WEEK IN CANADA’S SPACE INDUSTRY
MARCH 24-30

Next week we’ll take a closer look at Starsailor, a reusable rocket developed by Concordia University.

Starsailor recently completed a cryoflow test, which simulates conditions experienced during rocket launches.

It aims to be the first and only Canadian university rocket of its scale to successfully launch into space.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

This image was captured roughly 13 seconds before the lunar touch down of the Odysseus spacecraft on February 22, 2024. Canadensys has seven cameras aboard Odeysseus.

NEW CANADIAN SPACE JOBS

🖥️ MDA:
Junior EGSE and Test Engineer, Senior System Engineer, Five Additional Roles

🧪 Canadian Space Mining Corporation:
Chemical/Metallurigical Engineer

🛰️ Kepler:
Project Manager (Manufacturing)

WHAT I’M READING