• Unlike other countries that have been increasing their investments in space, Canada has faced declining investment for many years.
• According to the latest figures, whereas in 1992, Canada was 4th in spending as a share of GDP among G7 countries, by 2016 Canada was last, tied with the United Kingdom (the UK will not remain at the bottom of the ranking, it has recently turned around years of neglect with a strong reinvestment in its space program).
• If we look at investment across all spacefaring countries, in 1992, Canada was ranked 8th in spending as a share of GDP; by 2016 we had fallen to 18th, behind Luxembourg, the USA, France, Belgium, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Australia. Looking forward, that downward trend is projected to accelerate, based on known plans and Government spending.

• The Lunar Gateway is one of the most immediate and significant opportunities for Canada to “recommit to space..
• Today, in parallel to the expansion of the new economy in Low Earth Orbit, the international community has now confirmed that government space agency explorations will move into “deep space.”
• The first element of this deep space exploration will be the creation of Lunar Orbiting Platform – Gateway, often called the “Deep Space Gateway” or “Gateway”.
• This will be a new space station that will orbit the Moon, extending our engagement into Deep Space. Our current space station is 400km from Earth.  This new space station will be 400,000 km from Earth. It will also be a base for lunar surface exploration, a science laboratory, a communications hub and a staging platform to explore deeper space.
• Accompanying this station will be new lunar habitation modules, where astronauts will live on the Moon surface and explore using new lunar rovers and other new scientific instruments.
• This is all planned to happen over the next 5 to 10 years, to be followed by the first human mission to Mars launching 12 to 15 years from now.

Including a commitment to participate in the Gateway as part of the upcoming space strategy would signal to the world that Canada plans to claim its place in the new space economy.

• The final frontier is opening up and countries and companies are jostling for position. The stakes are high!
• The new space economy involves a rapid expansion of Earth observation and communication satellites over the next 10 to 20 years to serve the endless array of new applications being developed every day that will depend on satellite imagery, remote sensing or global positioning data to improve quality of life or security.
• Over 140 space companies have been founded and funded since 2000, with over 100 next start up ideas being studied globally each month.
• In 2015, venture capital firms invested almost $2B in commercial space start-ups, which is double the amount of venture cash invested in the space industry in all of the previous 15 years combined.
• Recently, Morgan Stanley released a forecast that indicates that the Global Space Industry will be a $1.1+ trillion industry by 2040.
• The future of some of even the most traditional of industries will be in space. Look at mining, in which Canada is a leader here on Earth. Just one asteroid, the size of a football field, is estimated to have between $25 billion and $50 billion worth of rare and precious metals. NASA estimates that the total value of the 18,000 asteroids that are currently in the vicinity of Earth could be up to $700 quintillion. Space mining missions will start as early as 2020. Tiny Luxemburg plans to be the world leader in space mining.

Canada has world-leading expertise in satellite telecommunications, Earth observation, space robotics and sensors, optics and vision systems, and space science instruments and research.
Feeding these areas of specialization are capabilities such as advanced manufacturing of space hardware, including the design and construction of satellites and spacecraft subsystems, components, materials, and equipment; the design, construction and operations of complex satellite data processing systems; space and satellite operations and services and related applications and analytics; as well as space systems design and integration.
Canada’s space industry has consistently been the most export-oriented space sector in the world, wisely leveraging strategic government space investments into commercial business opportunities.
Canada’s space ecosystem is further fueled by internationally recognized expertise in space science, astronomy, research, engineering and space law at post-secondary institutions across the country.
Canada’s space sector includes some of our most innovative companies, universities and research institutions and employs our brightest minds, creating…

• $5.5 billion (revenue)
• 10,000 direct jobs — 41% with university degrees
• 22,000 indirect jobs
• $2.3 billion (contribution to GDP)

The campaign was initiated by the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada and MDA, Canada’s largest space company. Now more than 60 companies, associations and academic organizations from Canada’s space sector have joined the coalition to keep Canada in space. They are supporting the movement in different ways, including funding, government relations, communications, public relations, social media, speaking engagements, public events and advertising.