CSA PRESS RELEASE
Longueuil, Quebec, March 31, 2008 – The Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry Canada and the Minister responsible for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), announced at the Agency headquarters today that the CSA will begin a national astronaut recruitment campaign at the end of May 2008, to select astronauts to join its Canadian Astronaut Corps.
“Canadians are inspired when they see our astronauts in space, and they will be proud to learn that even more Canadian astronauts are about to be recruited,” said Minister Prentice. “I am pleased to join the Canadian Space Agency to announce this new national astronaut recruitment campaign. By May 2009, two astronaut candidates will be selected and will begin their training to represent Canada in future space exploration missions.”
Continue reading ‘Canadian Space Agency to Recruit New Astronauts’
Declaring the nation to be at a crossroads in space, the Toronto Star is urging Canadian policymakers to chart a firm course for the country.
Star editors point to three worrisome signs: Canada’s active astronaut corps has dwindled down to three; its last contribution to the International Space Station, the Dextre robot, was successfully installed on the space station last week; and the builder of Dextre and Radarsat 2 is up for sale to an American defense contractor.
The paper urged Conservative Industry Jim Prentice “to weigh the merits – and demerits” of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates’ plan to sell its space division to Alliant Technosystems. Beyond that, the Star editors said policymakers need to define what precisely Canada should do in space.
“Marc Garneau, former astronaut and past head of the Canadian Space Agency (and a future Liberal candidate), says what we need is a comprehensive space strategy. ‘We are very much at a crossroads, at a time when even India, China and Brazil have got very ambitious space programs,’ says Garneau. ‘It seems everybody’s going up there while we are beginning to slip,’” the editors wrote.
The Canadian government has announced a 30-day delay in its decision on whether to approve the controversial sale of MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates’ space technology division to American defense contractor Alliant Technosystems.
Facing a Saturday deadline, Conservative Party Industry Minister Jim Prentice announced a month-long delay in order to conduct a more in-depth review of the sale. The Vancouver-based company has built some of Canada’s major contributions to space, including Canadarm, Radarsat 2, and the International Space Station’s new Dextre robot.
MDA wants to sell the division in order to focus on other parts of its business. Its shareholders have overwhelming approved the move. However, critics say the sale will devastate the Canadian space industry and threaten the nation’s sovereignty. One issue is whether U.S. law will limit Canada’s access to data from Radarsat 2, which the Canadian government primarily funded.
There has been a lot of coverage of this issue in the Canadian media. Below are some useful links:
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation:
Ruling on sale of Canadarm, Radarsat to U.S. arms-maker delayed 30 days
Canada Newswire:
Access Denied: U.S. Law Will Limit Canadian Access to RADARSAT-2 Data if Sale of MDA’s Space Division Proceeds
Liberal Party of Canada:
MDA Review Must Provide Solid Answers to Sovereignty Issues and Protecting Canada’s Space Industry
New Democratic Party:
NDP MP Peggy Nash demands that minister reject the sale of MDA
National Post:
Time to ground space firm’s sale (Op-ed by Don Martin)
Don Martin has an op-ed in the National Post urging the Conservative government of Stephen Harper to scuttle the sale of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates’ space division to American defense contractor Alliant Technosystems.
“This company’s heavily subsidized satellite technology was designed specifically to assert Northern sovereignty, assess global warming’s impact on our crops, measure sea-ice thickness and even spot submarines in shallow water,” Martin writes. “And that’s just the state-of-the-art 2,200-kilogram RADARSAT 2 satellite built and launched by MDA only three months ago.”
The proposed sale, overwhelmingly approved last week by shareholders, has created a major backlash north of the border. The company says it will produce a cash infusion that will allow it to focus on other businesses. Critics like Martin say the sale will devastate Canada’s space industry. The Canadian and American governments must approve the deal.
Shareholders overwhelmingly approved the sale on the very day that MDA’s latest creation, Dextre, rocketed into orbit aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. Astronauts have spent the last few days installing and activating the maintenance robot on the exterior of the station. MDA also built the Canadarm robot cranes for the space shuttle and space station.
Engineers have successfully installed and activated the International Space Station’s new Dextre robot, ABC News reports. Engineers solved an earlier power problem that they linked to a faulty circuit.
The Canadian-built Dextre is a sophisticated robot that will perform maintenance and other tasks on the space station’s interior that are now performed by astronauts. Astronauts aboard the orbiting laboratory and engineers on the ground will be able to control the robot by remote control.
On Thursday, NASA was unable to activate Dextre, the International Space Station’s new robot, USA Today reports. The Canadian-built maintenance robot, delivered by the space shuttle Endeavour, is to be installed on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory, where it will do work now done by space walking astronauts.
Engineers believe that a software problem may be the cause of the malfunction. They plan to upload a software fix on Friday morning.
The shareholders of Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. have overwhelming approved the controversial sale of its space and satellite business to American defense contractor Alliant Techsystems (ATK), The Canadian Press reports.
The proposed sale, which sent shock waves through the Canadian space industry, was approved by 99.9 percent of shareholders. MDA makes Canadarm, the robotic arm used aboard the space shuttle and the international space station. It also built Dextre, an ISS robot that was just launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavour.
ATK will pay $1.325 billion in cash for MDA’s space and satellite business. MDA said the sale would provide an infusion of cash and allow it to focus on its information products business.
Canandian opponents of the sale, who say it would cripple Canada’s space program, have vowed to try to block the sale. The transaction must be approved by Canadian and American regulators.
The Montreal Gazette has a story about the Canadian Space Agency’s Dextre robot, which was launched aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on Tuesday. The robot will be attached to the International Space Station, where it will do maintenance work currently done by space walking astronauts.
“We’re pretty excited by how things are progressing so far,” said CSA’s Andrew Keenan. “We’ve got a successful launch, everything looks great. And we’re just looking forward to talking to Dextre for the first time.”
Other stories about Dextre can be found below:
New York Times: A Space Robot With Arms to Make R2D2 Jealous
CTV: Canadian space robot ‘Dextre’ a high-tech marvel
CBS/Spaceflight Now: Canadian robot, Japanese module headed for station
Even as the Canadian space officials look forward to the launch of their robot Dextre to the International Space Station this week, they are facing a range of challenges to their future, the National Post reports.
The Canadian Space Agency’s budget has been frozen for the last decade and political leaders have not given the agency a firm commitment to participate in the American human lunar and Mars program, the newspaper says. CSA’s president, Laurier Boisvert, resigned in December after only nine months on the job.
Boisvert’s resignation was apparently spurred, in part, by the planned sale of the space technology division of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. to an American military contractor. The company built the country’s most visible contribution to human spaceflight, Canadarm, as well as the Dextre robot, which is set for launch this week aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
Ben Quine, a professor at York University’s Earth and Space Engineering department, said Canada’s future direction is uncertain. “Canadarm was a great Canadian success story,” he told the paper. “But to some extent, we’ve lost our way in the space industry in this country … I think we’ve got to be really careful about our direction in the future. We need a viable space industry and a vibrant research and development sector.”
NASA plans to launch the space shuttle Endeavour on a 16-day mission to deliver a Japanese logistics module and a new Canadian robot to the International Space Station.
The space shuttle, set for launch on March 11, would stay at the orbital outpost for 12 days, exceeding the old record by one day. Astronauts plan to conduct five spacewalks during the mission.
NASA has official news, information and updates about the mission here. There are also profiles of Endeavour Commander Dominic Goriehere and here.