Ottawa, ON – Those of you remembering the increase in regulations in International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) around the early 2010s will be familiar with the concept of “dual-use technologies,” in which companies in Canada were discussing back then whether something used in a satellite for civilian purposes could be a worry for the military.
Today, dual-use is coming back in a big way – but with a different spin on the discussion. Dual-use is something that actually could present a large business opportunity for companies willing to think both within the military services, and outside of them, as countries around the world pivot to defence spending. Canada’s last budget, just passed this week, makes healthy mention of sovereignty and defence and we should have a defence industrial strategy coming relatively soon with space as a part of it.
Representatives from several Canadian companies came together at Space Canada’s SpaceBound today in Ottawa to discuss what the business opportunities will mean. Below is a summary of the discussion’s key points, which involved the following individuals:
- Holly Johnson, Vice President of Robotics and Space Operations, MDA Space
- Stephen Hampton, Head of Global Public Policy, Strategic Accounts and Business Development, Telesat
- Marc Kneppers, Vice President of R&D, DISC
- David Musson, Co-Founder and CEO, Lunar Medical Inc.
- Pieter Decker, Director Geospatial Capabilities, Raytheon Space ISR
- Moderator: Aaron Shull, Managing Director and General Counsel, CIGI
Canada is adept at using dual-use technologies, but security remains a concern: As mentioned before, Canada is known for offering components for satellites – or larger items like robotics – which have multiple business opportunities depending on how they are used. Some panellists went so far as to say that Canada is a world leader in dual-use, and this even includes items you don’t hear often: nuclear reactors was one example, and proximity operations is something else that MDA Space said our country is lauded for internationally. That said, cyber security is a pressing issue in this new space world that includes reports of satellite jamming in Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine. Figuring out how to protect these technologies against cyber threats is thus a large priority. (Side note: the words “cuddling up with a satellite” were used during this panel during the discussion about the proximity operations, to which the moderator responded this is the only time he’s heard that kind of phrase.)
Some dual-use technologies are actually multiple-use technologies: The old stereotype about Canada is we’re a large country in need of communications, so we build companies devoted to that. But quite seriously, communications is something that is needed everywhere – by doctors in rural communities, by Indigenous people working on the road, and by individuals hotspotting on mobile when their landline Internet goes down. (Even in my city of Ottawa, this happens more often than you think – extreme weather took down power and Internet in my area at least twice in recent years, and that’s on top of situations such as the 2022 Rogers outage affecting millions of Canadians.) What this means is building for dual-use technologies is sort of like building for accessibility. If we build something that will be useful for a moon mission operating at the south pole without GPS, for example, this would also help a military unit in a compromised area or an Indigenous community out of reach of the satellites by geography. So building for the edge cases helps everybody that is hanging out more in the middle.
Technology that can make predictions is helpful in a fast-changing world. When panellists brought up AI or health care, it was not only about making decisions in the moment. There is also a need to think about what might be coming down the line – such as where a cyberattack on a satellite may be moving, or where a fire hotspot may pop up next, or what medical condition might be underlying the five or six symptoms picked up in tricorder-like technology. The opportunity for dual-use technologies therefore comes in making predictions to save money, time and effort down the road, perhaps even more so than streaming out customer use into sectors such as civilian, defence or medical.
Governments need to support the development of technology, but be flexible in procurement. Anyone listening in on House of Commons hearings alongside SpaceQ in the last 18 months or so will remember these arguments being made before. Governments need to be specific about what they want (to create certainty for companies), as well as agile in how they approach regulation and international trade discussions. This request of government has direct applicability to items such as the sovereign launch question. Canada’s government pledged a couple of years ago to make the regulations more flexible than currently, but making the changes takes time because seeking help from multiple government departments and agencies requires consultation. All the same, in Canada we’ve had just one suborbital launch in the last two years, at Maritime Launch Facilities’ spaceport in Nova Scotia (notwithstanding some attempts by NordSpace in Newfoundland this summer, and perhaps another attempt with Dutch company T-Minus Engineering coming up in association with Maritime Launch Services this week). To be sure, the pace is in part due to the difficulties of developing new spaceports and rockets. But it is also an argument to find the right balance between proper regulation, proper consultation and proper innovation.
There’s a sense of excitement in Canadian space industry about opportunities. Certainly, with defence dollars flowing more freely and international partners in Europe willing to step up contracts with Canada, there’s a feeling among the industry generally that we may be able to capitalize on a good deal of spending very quickly. The next thing, after recognizing the amount of work that needs to be done, is figuring out the right direction in which to go to choose a dual-use technology that will end up being a multiple-use technology in a timespan that satisfies shareholders.