2005 Canadian Space Summit
The 2005 Canadian Space Summit: it was a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a whole lot of nothing. I came away from the summit -- if you can call it that -- disappointed, although not necessarily uneducated, or unopinionated. The Space Summit is an event of the Canadian Space Society (CSS), an organization that I had never heard of before, that I thought of joining when I signed up for the summit, but glad I didn't with the clear vision of hindsight. The organization that describes itself as being:
If what I experienced in the last two days is evidence for what Canadians can expect to excite them and inspire passion for space faring endeavours, we will continue to be relegated to developing nation status beyond our atmosphere. Is this weekend was any evidence of the lobbying for to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the government that the public can expect, we should lower our expectations further.
As I thought about the state of public investment in the space sciences during the height of my disappointment in the summit, I can only conclude that the CSA, the various advocacy groups, and us, the general public, need to do a lot more lot more raising of awareness; a lot more advocating, than the mere histrionics I witnessed this weekend. Canada -- Canadians, seem so accepting of the third rate position we've adopted in everything from the space sciences, armed forces, and world politics. Such acceptance of where others see us, has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We have given the United States such leadership in matters that should be a source of pride for Canadians, that we've seemingly lost all sense of direction. Like lambs, we continue to look for direction from the dogs in Ottawa and the CSA in matters of space.
I heard the laments repeatedly this weekend. How can we get the CSA to do more? How can Canada claim a bigger piece of the space stage? Sumitra Rajagopalan said it best in her lecture when she referred to her visits to the CSA and came away uninspired. The repeated messages from the CSA: 1) We built the Canadarm; 2) We need more money. Rajagopalan attempted a kick in the pants for those who look to somnolent excuses of money for the state of Canadian space affairs. Shoestring budgets can accomplish a hell of a lot with the right motivation she reminded her audience. She used her love affair, Russia, as the one shining example, and her birthplace, India, as another. In the face of such resourcefulness, one has to wonder why we haven't achieved more with our ample resources. Where is such dexterity in CSA? Where is such gumption in our academia and industry?
To be fair, CSA is not NASA or ESA. CSA is not really a space agency. It's a government purse to provide public funding to research and industry. In such, achievements have been made. We should move beyond those celebrations however. The Canadian spirit cannot live on past glories in the face the public posturing of China and India. Neither should we settle for and celebrate mediocrity. There is $300M allocated to the CSA -- and yes, more money would be nice -- but there is a lot that can be accomplished annually with that money. I'm not in favour of seeing more allocated to CSA until more benefits start arriving from the existing budget. This is an unpopular position to take, but it's the accountable position to take. I've heard enough of the Canadarm. What else is there? This should not be a discouragement to advocacy groups, space enthusiasts, industry, academia or the folks of the CSA. It should be a call to arms. I'm demanding more first, because only on delivering can the public be inspired and excited by our potential. Then it becomes a source of national pride. The public would demand of their government the allocation of more money to the space sciences.
CSS serves an important purpose as a grass-roots advocacy group in this area. CSS needs to move beyond proselytizing to their own, and venture out to the public. No, I will not celebrate mediocrity in this respect either. I consider myself to be the converted -- yet until this weekend, I had never heard of the CSS. There is clearly a chasm that needs crossing, and I'm not sure the crowd I encountered this weekend -- catering to the academic brotherhood and fraternizing most embarrassingly with whichever two-bit industry player gave them any attention -- is capable of pulling it off. This weekend's activities were far from being an example of a good outreach program.
The only bright spot during this weekend's summit was the chance to listen to Dr. Ken Money, a Canadian astronaut in the NASA corps, from 1984 to 1992. Dr. Money was an entertaining and lively speaker. At lunch, he came and sat beside the friend and I that attended the summit. We had a brief and topical chat. I can now say I had lunch with Ken Money.
Related reading:
... a grass-roots space advocacy group, a unique combination of amateur and professional interests pursuing the human exploration and development of the Solar System. With some of Canada's top aerospace experts and engineers on board, the CSS is made up of people of all backgrounds and interests, including teachers, environmentalists, writers, and marketers.
If what I experienced in the last two days is evidence for what Canadians can expect to excite them and inspire passion for space faring endeavours, we will continue to be relegated to developing nation status beyond our atmosphere. Is this weekend was any evidence of the lobbying for to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the government that the public can expect, we should lower our expectations further.
As I thought about the state of public investment in the space sciences during the height of my disappointment in the summit, I can only conclude that the CSA, the various advocacy groups, and us, the general public, need to do a lot more lot more raising of awareness; a lot more advocating, than the mere histrionics I witnessed this weekend. Canada -- Canadians, seem so accepting of the third rate position we've adopted in everything from the space sciences, armed forces, and world politics. Such acceptance of where others see us, has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We have given the United States such leadership in matters that should be a source of pride for Canadians, that we've seemingly lost all sense of direction. Like lambs, we continue to look for direction from the dogs in Ottawa and the CSA in matters of space.
I heard the laments repeatedly this weekend. How can we get the CSA to do more? How can Canada claim a bigger piece of the space stage? Sumitra Rajagopalan said it best in her lecture when she referred to her visits to the CSA and came away uninspired. The repeated messages from the CSA: 1) We built the Canadarm; 2) We need more money. Rajagopalan attempted a kick in the pants for those who look to somnolent excuses of money for the state of Canadian space affairs. Shoestring budgets can accomplish a hell of a lot with the right motivation she reminded her audience. She used her love affair, Russia, as the one shining example, and her birthplace, India, as another. In the face of such resourcefulness, one has to wonder why we haven't achieved more with our ample resources. Where is such dexterity in CSA? Where is such gumption in our academia and industry?
To be fair, CSA is not NASA or ESA. CSA is not really a space agency. It's a government purse to provide public funding to research and industry. In such, achievements have been made. We should move beyond those celebrations however. The Canadian spirit cannot live on past glories in the face the public posturing of China and India. Neither should we settle for and celebrate mediocrity. There is $300M allocated to the CSA -- and yes, more money would be nice -- but there is a lot that can be accomplished annually with that money. I'm not in favour of seeing more allocated to CSA until more benefits start arriving from the existing budget. This is an unpopular position to take, but it's the accountable position to take. I've heard enough of the Canadarm. What else is there? This should not be a discouragement to advocacy groups, space enthusiasts, industry, academia or the folks of the CSA. It should be a call to arms. I'm demanding more first, because only on delivering can the public be inspired and excited by our potential. Then it becomes a source of national pride. The public would demand of their government the allocation of more money to the space sciences.
CSS serves an important purpose as a grass-roots advocacy group in this area. CSS needs to move beyond proselytizing to their own, and venture out to the public. No, I will not celebrate mediocrity in this respect either. I consider myself to be the converted -- yet until this weekend, I had never heard of the CSS. There is clearly a chasm that needs crossing, and I'm not sure the crowd I encountered this weekend -- catering to the academic brotherhood and fraternizing most embarrassingly with whichever two-bit industry player gave them any attention -- is capable of pulling it off. This weekend's activities were far from being an example of a good outreach program.
The only bright spot during this weekend's summit was the chance to listen to Dr. Ken Money, a Canadian astronaut in the NASA corps, from 1984 to 1992. Dr. Money was an entertaining and lively speaker. At lunch, he came and sat beside the friend and I that attended the summit. We had a brief and topical chat. I can now say I had lunch with Ken Money.
Related reading:
- Canada's Military Posture: An Analysis of Recent Civilian Reports -- a report by the Fraser Institute. I reference this as another example of Canada's continued acceptance of mediocrity. If we care, we would do something about it.
- UofT Astronomy and Space Exploration Society -- usually a good place to find local outreach efforts.
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