Canada
Economy: Space Economy – TSR 2010
Workforce: Workforce and Education – TSR 2010
Ship-tracking Satellites Started Production
Preparing to make advances in the shipping industry is COM DEV, a Canadian satellite manufacturer that is developing a global ship identification and tracking service for use by maritime and coastal authorities.
2009 – ISS – Snapshot
The best-known in-space platform is the International Space Station (ISS), a project led by the United States in conjunction with Russia, Canada, Japan, and several member nations of ESA. The ISS operates in LEO and serves as a research facility and testing laboratory. The station has been crewed by astronauts and cosmonauts from 15 different nations and has been serviced by a variety of spacecraft.
2009 – Canadian Government Space Budget – Snapshot
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) managed an annual budget of C$## million (US$## million), in FY 2009, an ##% increase from the previous year’s budget of C$## million. The CSA focused this funding in three main activity areas, including supporting technology development for: Earth observation; space science and exploration, which includes robotics and human spaceflight; and satellite communication and navigation systems.
2009 – Commercial Human Spaceflight – Snapshot
Revenue from in-space activities derives mainly from commercial business taking place in space or transportation services to and from space. For example, governments plan to use the private sector to deliver cargo, and eventually astronauts, to the ISS. In the future, other in-space markets could include research and development services, manufacturing, satellite refueling, and orbital debris clean-up. Based on current in-orbit activity, there are three main categories: platform-based services, transportation-based services, and personal spaceflight.
2009 – Satellite Radio – Snapshot
The digital audio radio services sector, known as satellite radio, experienced a slight decline in 2009 due to the sluggish economy and a poor year for the auto industry. Satellite radio revenue decreased to an estimated $## billion in 2009 compared to $## billion in 2008. It is expected that growth in the satellite radio market will continue to be closely tied to the economic situation in the United States, particularly to the negative impact of declining sales in the…
2009 – Disaster Charter – Snapshot
Remote sensing satellites provide data to assess the scope and impact of disasters that have occurred. The information also enables planning for the mitigation of events that may occur. The International Charter on Space and Major Disasters provides a means for relief agencies to request satellite imagery of an area affected by a disaster.
2009 – Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) Space Activities – Snapshot
GEO satellites provide a wide fixed coverage area, making them ideal for reaching a community of stationary antennas that do not need to track a moving object in space. The dominant providers of international fixed satellite services (FSS) are Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, and Telesat. These four companies collectively own slightly more than half of all GEO commercial communications satellites, and represented ##% of total FSS market revenues in 2008.
2009 – PISA Test Snapshot
An examination of PISA test scores among 14 countries active in space offers a more focused view of relative math and science literacy, which has implications for the numbers of STEM graduates each country produces and in turn the supply of STEM-skilled workers available for space-related professions. Exhibit 4bb shows national PISA test scores from 2009 for major space countries in mathematics and science.