Canadian Space Agency
For this essay I will be focusing on the Canadian Space agency known as the CSA. They are an independent organization that works for the Canadian government, but is not affiliated with the Canadian military, differentiating it from other space agency’s around the world. More specifically the CSA falls within the purview of the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development. The president of the organization is Lisa Campbell who took office in late 2020. She has plans to participate in an international Lunar Program called the Lunar Gateway Project which will be discussed in more depth later in the essay (Thurton, 2020).
The history of the Canadian Space agency is rich with international cooperation. In fact, in many ways international cooperation has been the bedrock upon which Canada has been able to make strides in space exploration. The CSA as it exists now was formed on March 1st, 1989, however, Canadian space travel has roots back to 1958 when it was one of the integral members of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (Jesup & Taubenfeld, 1959).
The website for the Canadian Space Agency states that their mission is to “advance the knowledge of space through science and ensure that space, science, and technology provide social and economic benefits for Canadians.” (Government of Canada, 2021) While much of the technology used for space travel can also be used for more sinister military purposes, the history of the Canadian space program quite clearly has been very peaceful and it is a fundamental goal of the CSA to remain peaceful in their exploration and development of space and space technologies.
While the Canadian Space Agency’s budget is quite small, the Canadian space sector as a whole is nothing so scoff at. They have over 174 private and public organizations all involved in the space industry, including small businesses, non-profits, multinational space corporations, and research institutions such as universities. According to the 22nd edition of the Canadian Space Sector Report, the Canadian Space Industry produced revenues of 5.7 billion and added 2.4 billion to Canada’s overall GDP. During 2018, research and development grants amounted to 356 million and using these resources the space sector produced 170 new inventions and registered 53 patents. (Laporte, 2019)
While the Canadian Space sector as a whole is relatively large, the CSA itself as a national organization only operates with a budget of 300 million USD. This means that they are not able to embark on projects the size and scope of that of NASA, China, India or any of the other major space powers. They are not able to create their own space stations and do not have a rocket program of their own. This leads to a dependency on private organizations such as SpaceX as well as other countries in order to supply the rockets needed to get into space.
This dependency has been a theme throughout the history of the Canadian national space program. Many of the CSA’s most noteworthy accomplishments have been joint efforts with other space faring nations. Their alliances with the United States and the European Union have allowed them to maintain a firm foothold in space, allowing them to become the third country to ever put a satellite into Earth orbit. (Gainor, 2007)
Canada was able to get involved in international space affairs since the dawn of the space age. As an international power deeply allied with many powerful nations they had a prominent seat at the table when nations were discussing the international laws that would surround space travel. They were an initial member of the United Nations committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and they were part of a coalition of UN members that created the first Outer Space Treaty. (OST) (Handberg, 2017).
This coalition of UN members that were in charge of the OST had to accommodate to the requirements of the world superpowers at the time: The United States and the USSR. Both of these superpowers would not sign onto an agreement that did not advance their own interests and solidify their rights in the treaty. The treaty protected the small countries that had not yet achieved space flight by formalizing the laws on accessing and using celestial bodies for their resources. Space was to be considered to be a zone that could not be claimed by any country. This was essentially targeted at the United States and the USSR to prevent them from gatekeeping the path to space travel from other nations. The treaty made sure that no space faring nation could impose a toll on another country in order to get into space. (Handberg, 2017).
Because of the small budget of the CSA they choose to invest their limited resources into research rather than the creation of large rockets. One way that they do this is by giving grants to university students around Canada for them to pursue careers in the space industry. The grants include cash grants as well as opportunities to work directly for the Canadian Space Agency and NASA (Clement, 2020).
The CSA has also invested its resources into developing space technology for the International Space Station. One of the more impressive contributions they made to the ISS is the Canadarm 1, 2 and 3. Canadarm 1 was the first robotic arm to go into space and it was fixed to the space station on one side giving it a limited range of motion. Canadarm 2 has been servicing the ISS since 2001 and permanently stays on board the station. It has a much wider range of motion and is not permanently attached to one part of the station allowing it to travel the entire length of the space station to conduct repairs or be used in whatever way it is needed. (Rai et al., 2020) Canadarm 3 is an “artificial intelligence based robotic system designed for the Lunar Gateway Project. It is similar in capability to the Canadarm 2, however it is lighter and has a greater range of motion in each of its joints to its predecessor. It will also have 6 color video cameras attached to it at all times instead of 4 (Canadian Space Agency, 2019).
The Lunar Gateway project is an ambitious attempt to build a space station around lunar orbit. It will provide a rendezvous point for missions to and from the moon, as well as act as a scientific research station and testbed for new technologies. The hope is one day it will be a jumping off point for manned missions to Mars. Unlike the International Space Station, it will not necessarily be manned at all times, however there will be crew quarters and it will be inhabited at least once a year. The project hopes to be ready to start conducting scientific research by 2026. (Mars, 2016)
In order to determine what the future of the Canadian space agency should look like we must identify their strengths and weaknesses. As discussed earlier the main obstacle that the CSA must overcome is a distinct lack of government funding. This has led to them falling behind in terms of rocket technology and has led to a gap between their goals and what they are able to accomplish without outside help. While their work with other countries has solidified them as a central space power that played a large role in the creation of the international space station, the fact that they are falling behind countries such as New Zealand and Bulgaria shows that they may not be poised to maintain their role as a space power in the coming years.
I believe this will pose a serious issue for Canada once space travel becomes more widely accessible to more nations and private companies. While I don’t believe it’s necessary for them to build rockets from scratch, it is necessary that they have a way into space without the help of other countries. Given the limited budget that they must work with I see two solutions to this issue. The first is that the government allocates a greater investment into the CSA so they can actually build their own rockets. They don’t need that many because the technology to build reusable rockets already exists as has been proved by the Falcon 9 developed SpaceX. The second solution is not to develop rockets of their own, but simply to purchase them from other countries simply to have in case they need to access space in the future, but are not able to get another country to help them out. A partnership with other countries is great and it allows Canada to focus on robotics and other space technologies, but simply having no choice but to rely on other countries or private companies is a dangerous risk to take when we consider the potential redistribution of wealth that may come from new space industries. Canada should be fearful that relying on other countries will mean that they will be left out of this new gold rush that is space travel (Mortillaro, 2018).
Besides the purely self-interested issue of needing some semblance of self-reliance in case of a breakdown in international relations, the strategy of international cooperation that they have taken is good for humanity in general. The hope is that space will be an area free of nations, allowing it to become the birthright of humanity instead becoming another place for nations to colonize and spread the tribalism of earth to the stars. Steps that are taken by countries such as Canada to heavily focus on international cooperation are the steppingstones that pave the way for a future in which space isn’t split up and owned by isolationist nations and trillion-dollar mining corporations. I would encourage Canada to continue down this path, helping in any way that they can on humanities biggest projects, from the lunar gateway project to future stations and colonies on Mars and beyond. They should continue to use the international goodwill that they have earned to influence international law as they have done in the past for the purpose of advancing the goal of peaceful space exploration and resource collection without letting one entity gatekeep the path to the stars.
Works Cited
Thurton, D. (2020, September 03). Lisa Campbell becomes the first woman to head the Canadian Space Agency | CBC News. Retrieved April 10, 2021, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lisa-campbell-canada-space-agency-1.5710881
Gainor, C. (2007). Canada’s space program, 1958–1989: A program without an agency. Acta Astronautica, 60(2), 132–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2006.07.006
Jason Clement. (2020). The Canadian Space Agency Space Learning Grants. McGill Journal of Medicine, 13(2).
Handberg, R. (2017). Dancing with the pygmy elephant: The Canadian space program, future directions amid challenges. ScienceDirect. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2017.09.008
Jessup, P., & Taubenfeld, H. (1959). The United Nations Ad Hoc Committee on the Peaceful uses of Outer Space. The American Journal of International Law, 53(4), 877-881. Retrieved January 31, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2195757
Government of Canada. (2021, January 21). Canadian Space Agency. Canada.ca. https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/default.asp.
Laporte, S. (2019, April 28). State of the Canadian Space Sector Report 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2021, from https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/publications/2019-state-canadian-space-sector.asp#message
Rai, A., Robinson, J. A., Tate-Brown, J., Buckley, N., Zell, M., Tasaki, K., Karabadzhak, G., Sorokin, I. V., & Pignataro, S. (2016). Expanded benefits for humanity from the International Space Station. Acta Astronautica, 126, 463–474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2016.06.030
Agency, C. S. (2019, May 20). Canadarm, Canadarm2, And CANADARM3 – a comparative table. https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/iss/canadarm2/canadarm-canadarm2-canadarm3-comparative-table.asp.
Mars, K. (2016, August 17). Gateway. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/gateway.
Mortillaro, N. (2018, February 8). Why doesn't Canada have a rocket program? | CBC News. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/canada-space-race-rockets-1.4505847.