Securing Canada’s Place in Space

As international space agencies move forward into deeper space, there is an emerging commercial space market in Low Earth Orbit — the final frontier is opening up. Countries and companies are jostling to capture their place in the new space economy and the stakes are high. Today, space touches the lives of Canadians 20 to 30 times a day — from weather predictions, to using an ATM, to checking a map on a smartphone, to downloading movies, to ground and air traffic management, and big data analytics. Tomorrow's advances — autonomous cars, smart cities, advanced autonomous AI and robotics — are also tied to space science and technology.

Who will lead in this new realm of economic activity? The U.K. aims to capture 10 percent of the global space market by 2030; Luxembourg has set its sights on being the leading space mining country. Canada, the third country in space and an acknowledged world leader in space robotics and Earth observation, has always punched above its weight in space, thanks to past visionary decisions and strategic investments by the Canadian government. Our country faces an important decision in the coming months: Will we continue to lead or choose to recede?

Mr. Greenley will address these issues and map out MDA's plans to lead as a global space industry player, including introducing new mechanisms for small and medium-size businesses in Canada to engage in the new space economy.