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My guest this week is Professor Gordon Osinski, Director of the Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration at Western University. Today we’ll be talking about water on Mars and the history of water discoveries on the Red Planet. As well, is there liquid water on Mars today? It’s a question that we haven’t decided with any certainty even though we’ve found evidence that suggest water flowed in the past on Mars. As well the Martian polar caps contain water ice. However unlike Earths polar caps, the Martian polar caps are a combination of water ice and carbon dioxide ice. Recently though there was news that there may a lake of water under the surface of the Martian south polar cap. Is this really the case? And what are the implications for human exploration should it be verified that there’s liquid water on Mars today? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kleos Space is looking to build a satellite constellation that will collect radio transmissions data that is currently hidden from detection for commercial and government civil and defence clients.The company has signed GomSpace to build the constellation of 20 satellites, with the first set of up to three nanosatellites ready for launch by mid-2019. Last week the company announced that Rocket Labs had been contracted as their launch provider.Kleos a fascinating startup. It's founders are British, but decided to base the business in Luxembourg and then go public in Australia. The company has already won contracts and has begun to build its new Data as a Service (DaaS) platform called Guardian ABI (Activity Based Intelligence).It's part of a new breed of small satellite startups looking to build itself a place in the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) market space by taking advantage of commercial off the shelf products, placing those sensors on nanosatellites and building a new data platform.

My guest today is Professor Sarah Gallagher, Canada’s new Science Advisor to the president of the Canadian Space Agency. In this interview Sarah provides more detail on her new position as well as sharing her thoughts on Canada’s space program and the news that a Japanese private citizen has purchased all the seats on a SpaceX spacecraft to go to the moon and back. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today we’re going to hear from Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques. At 48, Saint-Jacques will start his first and possibly only mission to the International Space Station in late December. Saint-Jacques is the rare astronaut that is qualified in four disciplines. He has an engineering physics degree and PhD in Astrophysics, is a licensed doctor and has a commercial pilot license. That last skill will come in handy when on December 19 (Eastern time), already December 20 in Kazakhstan, he’ll co-pilot the Soyuz spacecraft as it launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. And it’s no small feat to co-pilot the Soyuz. Chris Hadfield set the precedent and translated the pilots training manual from Russian to English. For Saint-Jacques though, he also speaks Russian. Once on orbit he’ll work for six months on the ISS spending 50% of his time working with the other astronauts to keep the space station in top operating condition. The other 50% of his time will be doing a l

My guest today is Alex MacDonald, Senior Economic Advisor in the Office of the Administrator at NASA Headquarters in Washington. I’ll note that Alex is appearing in a personal capacity and not representing NASA in this interview.Alex is recognized as an expert on the economic history of American space exploration and contemporary private sector space activities. He was previously the founding program executive of NASA's Emerging Space Office and is the author and editor of a number of NASA reports including Emerging Space: The Evolving Landscape of 21st Century American Spaceflight, Public-Private Partnerships for Space Capability Development, and Economic Development of Low-Earth Orbit.Alex, who is Canadian, received his undergraduate degree in economics from Queen's University, his master's degree in economics from the University of British Columbia, and was a Clarendon Scholar at the University of Oxford where he obtained his doctorate on the long-run economic history of American space exploration. In toda

Last week part two of our our three part podcast Summer Series was on the Future of Nuclear Powered Space Exploration which will one day increase our ability to explore the solar system. This week In episode 3, the topic is Making Humans a Multiplanetary Species.Our Summer Series features recent important talks on topics we think you’ll find interesting. Our regular interviews will resume the first week in September.The speaker this week is SpaceX founder Elon Musk. In this talk at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide just about a year ago, Musk discusses the long-term technical challenges that need to be solved to support the creation of a permanent, self-sustaining human presence on Mars. It's not a project that SpaceX can do alone. To build a sustaining human presence on Mars will require the collaboration of industry, government and the scientific community.Listen in... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hi, I’m Marc Boucher and this is a SpaceQ podcast special. On Friday, August 24th NASA hosted a media teleconference on the OSIRIS-REx mission which will return an asteroid sample to Earth. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is now preparing to conduct approach maneuvers as it heads for a December 3rd rendezvous with asteroid Bennu.Canada is participating in the mission by providing the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter or OLA as its called. The OLA instrument will create a critical 3-D map of asteroid Bennu’s shape as well as assisting with spacecraft navigation.Listen in as NASA provides and update and answers journalist questions. The slides and video for this event are linked from out story on SpaceQ. For more information on Canada’s participation, I would direct to you Episode 23 of the SpaceQ podcast where I interviewed Mike Daly from York University. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last week we began our our three part podcast Summer Series with a talk on the Parker Solar Probe which is on its way to touch the sun, a first for humanity. In episode 2, the topic is the Future of Nuclear Powered Space Travel and the the Kilopower Project.Our Podcast Summer Series features recent important talks on topics we think you’ll find interesting. Our regular interviews will resume the first week in September.The speaker this week is Patrick McClure of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. McClure is the Project Lead for Kilopower Project which is an effort being conducted with NASA. The lecture was presented at the National Atomic Testing Museum earlier this year.The Kilopower project is a near-term technology effort to develop preliminary concepts and technologies that could be used for an affordable fission nuclear power system to enable long-duration stays on planetary surfaces. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the first of a three part Podcast Summer Series we’ll be bringing you recent talks on topics we think are important and that you’ll find interesting. Our regular interviews will resume in September.This week, and only days after the launch, we have a talk from earlier this year from the South by Southwest Music Festival. The topic, NASA's Parker Solar Probe. The speakers are Project Scientist Nicola Fox and Lead Thermal Protection System Engineer Elizabeth Congdon, both from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.According to NASA the "historic Parker Solar Probe mission will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun, where changing conditions can propagate out into the solar system, affecting Earth and other worlds. Parker Solar Probe will travel through the Sun’s atmosphere, closer to the surface than any spacecraft before it, facing brutal heat and radiation conditions — and ultimately providing humanity with the closest-ever observations of a star."As you’ll hear, the story of this mission start

My guest this week is David Haight, Chief Economist at the Canadian Space Agency.Before starting at the Canadian Space Agency in November of 2015, David worked at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, or ISED, first as a Senior Policy Analyst, Policy and Sector Services Branch, and then as Manager in the Analytics and Sector Intelligence, Automotive and Transportation Industries Branch.Today we’ll be talking about the recently released Patents in Space report from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office which the Canadian Space Agency participated in. As well, we’ll discuss the recently released annual Canadian State of the Space Sector report for 2016.Links:- A Canadian Intellectual Property Office Patent Report Indicates a Potential Advantage for the Canadian Space Sectorhttp://www.spaceq.ca/a-canadian-intellectual-property-office-patent-report-indicates-a-potential-advantage-for-the-canadian-space-sector/- The Canadian Space Economy Remains Flat But Opportunity Aboundshttp://www.spaceq.ca/

Hi, I’m Marc Boucher and this is the SpaceQ podcast. If you like what we do, please support us on Patreon at https://patreon.com/spaceq. We need your support to make this weekly show. My guest this week is Tory Bruno the president and CEO of United Launch Alliance or as it’s commonly called ULA. Tory joined ULA from Lockheed Martin in August 2014 with a mission to evolve the company in an increasingly competitive market where competitor SpaceX was nipping at their heels to garner a portion of the very lucrative military launch business. In his four years at the helm of the company, he’s had to make many changes, including downsizing the company, making the Atlas V more competitive by dropping the price by as much as 37%, developing plans for a next generation rocket named Vulcan and more.As you’ll hear from Tory, there’s also been some culture change and innovation in reusability isn’t just what SpaceX does. Importantly to ULA, their next rocket, Vulcan, will feature the Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage, or

On July 1st Australia’s Space Agency started operations. It’s an important milestone for the country as they look to space to help drive economic growth with an eye to tripling their share of the global space market by 2030.My guests on this weeks SpaceQ podcast are today are Kirby Ikin and Bill Barrett of Sydney based Asia Pacific Aerospace Consultants. Kirby is the Managing Director of APAC while Bill is Senior Vice President. Both have extensive experience working in the industry and have worked with Australia’s government over the years to promote and grow its space industry. Kirby also serves as the Chairman of the Board of the National Space Society.Both Kirby and Bill provide insights as to how Australia lost it’s space agency in the late 90’s for economic reasons, only to see it rebooted now for economic reasons.It turns out Australia’s space industry is stronger than even the government realized, and now with bipartisan support, the country is charting a new course to take advantage of Australia’s st

This week our guest is Jeffrey Osborne, Co-founder & Vice President of Business Development at Toronto based Kepler Communications.Kepler is developing next-generation satellite communication technologies for the Machine to Machine and Internet of Things satellite market with the goal of launching a constellation of 140 satellites for that developing marketplace. To date they’ve launched one of three demonstration satellites. Another will launch this summer followed by another in mid-2019.Today, Jeffrey and I talked about the news this week that they had partnered with Satellite Applications Catapult, a UK company created by the government Innovate UK program to drive economic growth through the exploitation of space. Catapult will help Kepler expand their operations into the UK and Europe. We also discussed their application with the US FCC to get a spectrum license for their satellites as well as a recent contract with the Canadian Space Agency and their experience launching with China. See acast.com/pr

This week my guest is astrophysicist Rob Thacker, a Professor at Saint Mary’s University. Rob is also the new president of the Canadian Astronomical Society, a society of professional astronomers. He also co-hosts the CBC Nova Scotia radio show, the Sound of Science, is also a guest on News 1310’s Ottawa Today show and a guest on Science Ship on Rogers TV. Our topic this week is Canadian astronomy missions and a recent independent report that offered mix results on the Canadian Space Agency’s space astronomy and planetary missions programs. The lack of funding was one of the issues the report mentioned. Also of note, the Canadian Space Agency’s Departmental Plan for 2018-19, basically the agency’s blueprint of what it will do in this current fiscal year, has no funding for any new astronomy missions. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our topic this week is Canada’s long term planning in the mining sector, specifically the ongoing consultation for the Canadian Minerals and Metals Plan which recently included a consultation session on space mining.I have two guests to discuss this topic. In the first segment I speak with Glenn Mason, Assistant Deputy Minister, Lands and Minerals Sector from the Department of Natural Resources.In the second segment I spoke Michelle Ash, Chief Innovation Officer at traditional mining giant, Barrick Gold.For those interested in the space industry’s take on space mining, I will direct you to episode 38 from March in which I spoke with Dale Boucher.Show timing notes:Introduction - 00:16Guest 1: Glenn Mason - 01:16Guest 2: Michelle Ash - 20:44If you like what we do please support on a Patreon;https://www.patreon.com/spaceqPlease visit SpaceQ for the latest space news:https://spaceq.ca See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hi, I’m Marc Boucher and this is the SpaceQ podcast. This is a special podcast in that it is our 50th, and marks one year since I started the show.I want to thank our growing audience who have contributed to having our podcasts played 20,000 times so far.To keep this show going we need your continued support. For those who are not yet supporting us through our crowdfunding site on Patreon, I would ask that you consider supporting us now. The address is https://www.patreon.com/spaceqMy guest this week is Philip Ferguson, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, at the University of Manitoba, a position he started last fall. Phil was also was recently named as the NSERC / Magellan Aerospace Industrial Research Chair in Satellite Engineering at the university.As you’ll hear, Phil has had a pretty eventful career working in industry before settling in at the University of Manitoba last fall. He received his PhD in Aerospace Engineering at MIT and has worked on the International Space Station's S

Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Sylvain Laporte surprised the audience at the CASI ASTRO 18 conference with his talk. Expecting an update on CSA activities, the audience listened attentively when Laporte addressed "the elephant in the room."That elephant is the budget where the Liberals didn't address a new space strategy or address the budgetary problems in a meaningful way.Listen to Mr. Laporte's full speech in this weeks podcast and read our story here:http://spaceq.ca/the-message-the-canadian-space-agency-is-moving-on/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hi, I’m Marc Boucher and this is a special edition of the SpaceQ podcast. In this podcast recorded at the CASI ASTRO 18 conference in Quebec City, you’ll hear from Jacques Giroux, Business Development Manager, Space & Defence Systems at ABB. Jacques is also the incoming president of CASI, the organizers of the conference.ABB is large Swiss multinational company with 135,000 employee and revenues of $34.3B in 2017. ABB has about 4,000 employees in Canada but less than 5% of those work in its space segment which is headquartered in Quebec City. And while the space segment is a very small portion of the overall company, it is an important segment as you’ll hear. It’s even possible you might not have heard of their efforts in Canada. That’s primarily because most of their work is exported. In particularly, they are known for their weather satellite sensors which are being used today on European and U.S. satellites. Some of that technology was developed and leveraged from past investments the Canadian governm

Hi, I’m Marc Boucher and this is a special edition of the SpaceQ podcast. In this podcast from the CASI ASTRO 18 conference in Quebec City, you’ll hear from Dr. Lucy Stojak, Chair of the government appointed Space Advisory Board. Dr. Stojak was the CASI 2018 Turnbull Lecturer and provided a review of the activities of the Space Advisory Board to date along with their planned future activities.For more podcasts and stories from CASI ASTRO 18, go to http://spaceq.ca/tag/astro-2018. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hi, I’m Marc Boucher and this is a special edition of the SpaceQ podcast. In this podcast from the CASI ASTRO 18 conference in Quebec City, you’ll hear from stakeholders on their Perspective of the Future of Canada’s Space Sector. The moderator for this discussion is Jacques Giroux of ABB who is also the incoming president of CASI. The panelists in order of who you’ll her from are; Sylvain Laporte, president of the Canadian Space Agency, Mike Greenley, president of MDA, Ewan Reid, president and CEO of Mission Control Space Services and Kaley Walker of the University of Toronto.For more podcasts and stories from CASI ASTRO 18 go to spaceq.ca/tag/astro-2018.The story that accompanies this podcast is available here:https://sqm.me/2INfBhI See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.