CF's space plans

Excerpts from an article in Aviation Week and Space Technology (text subscriber only, links added):

Milspace Expansion To Be Outlined In New Space Policy
Aviation Week & Space Technology Apr 26 , 2010 , p. 32

Canada to add broadband and polar satcom capabilities, expand SAR constellation
Printed headline: Polar Plan

The Canadian Defense Department is poised to issue a new policy statement showing how the nation plans to expand its space presence to meet changing threats.

The existing policy, formulated in 1998, reflects requirements associated with the 1990-91 Persian Gulf war. The new document, expected to be issued in 30-60 days, will reflect more recent developments, such as the need for reinforcing Canada’s sovereignty in an era of global warming that is facilitating activity in the high arctic, and protecting space assets against potential hostile threats.

New trends such as increased reliance on dual-use assets shared across government agencies, and greater use of commercial space capabilities, will also be addressed. The policy statement will be accompanied by a first-ever space-based strategy, Col. Andre Dupuis, the Canadian Defense Department’s director of space development, told a military space gathering here last week organized by SMI.

The two documents are likely to coincide with release of a long-term space plan (LTSP)—Canada’s fourth, and the first since 1994. Release was initially anticipated in late 2008 or early 2009 but was held up by the global economic crisis and uncertainty in the U.S. space program. The LTSP is important for Canadian military planners, because they rely heavily on civil programs to meet their space requirements, particularly in Earth observation.

Although there is still no word on when the LTSP will be released, a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) report on plans and priorities, issued on March 27, said the agency is already reorganizing for the plan, which it expects to coordinate on the government’s behalf. The reorganization will give more prominence to the space-utilization directorate, which manages Earth-observation missions such as Radarsat.

Military space spending is currently running at a modest C$250 million ($250.4 million) a year, according to figures released by Futron, and is currently stable, Dupuis says. CSA funding, around C$300 million a year, is flat and has been declining in real terms...

The main capability objective in the remote-sensing area will be to scale up the Radarsat constellation—a cluster of three C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) microsatellites approved for development in March—in order to enhance operational flexibility and expand revisit time over Canada’s vast ocean reaches. Planners are debating the number of spacecraft (6-12) and whether to employ existing or new technology. Expanding to six spacecraft would permit six daily revisits in the high arctic, compared with four per day with three satellites.

One issue, Dupuis says, will be how to meet the estimated C$150-160-million price tag, including launch and ground equipment. Planners are considering bringing in other countries to help defray the cost. Most prospective partners, such as the U.K. and Australia, could meet their requirements with existing satellite technology; but some, such as the U.S., might not, he says.

Radarsat prime contractor MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates is studying a next-generation wireless SAR architecture, capable of operating in X and C bands, that could offer an operationally responsive solution to a number of requirements, including ground-moving-target identification and resolution down to 33 cm. The price point for such a system might be C$100-120 million.

Canada also wants to develop a global search-and-rescue network to serve its arctic regions and overseas forces, and has spent C$10 million defining a piggyback terminal, based on Cospas-Sarsat heritage, that could fly on navigation satellites. After being denied access to Galileo, because Ottawa does not have a security agreement with the European Union, Canada has offered to fund 20-30 payloads on the U.S.’s GPS-3.

A primary goal of the new space policy will be to see that the benefit of new capabilities reach the warfighter. One effort already underway is the C$27-million Joint Space Support Project, aimed at making remote-sensing receiving terminals available to tactical and operational forces and denying the use of that imagery to enemy troops. Contracts for the terminals should be issued late this summer...

Dupuis says military planners are coming around to the argument that space spending allows the military to optimize use of assets such as surface ships and surveillance aircraft, justifying their cost. This is reflected in Defense Department decisions to fund Polar Epsilon ground stations for Radarsat [see "Polar Epsilon: Upgrade for our Arctic and maritime satellite surveillance"] and to co-finance the CSA’s Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Satellite [see Micro and Small Satellite Projects], an automated identification system payload to be launched next year.

The main goal in enhancing space situational awareness will be to build a follow-on to Canada’s Sapphire geostationary SSA satellite, to be launched in the first quarter 2011 as part of Canada’s contribution to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) [see "CF Wants to Keep a Closer Eye on Outer Space"]. The aim would be to design Sapphire 2 from the outset to fully complement the orbit of the U.S.’s Space-Based Space Surveillance satellites, which will provide a similar capability. Despite efforts to synchronize the orbits of the two satellites, orbital coverage will not be fully complementary, Dupuis acknowledges.