Marc Garneau, President,
Canadian Space Agency

OTTAWA. NOVEMBER 5, 2002

Mr. Franklin, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for the warm welcome.

I am particularly pleased to be here with you this afternoon at such an auspicious time in our nation's history.

This is a time of great challenges, opportunities and great excitement for Canada's space program.

A time that is giving birth to a bold, new vision for our country's future in space based on a forty-year legacy that has both astonished and inspired Canadians and the world.

A time when Canada stands poised on the threshold of the greatest adventure that humanity has ever undertaken.

The Canadian Space Program was founded upon such a bold vision, which has since changed the lives of our country's citizens immeasurably.

In 1958, John Herbert Chapman, a young scientist working at the Defense Research Telecommunications Establishment, came up with an ambitious plan for Canada.

Chapman proposed that Canada launch a high-tech satellite to study the ionosphere, an electrically charged layer of the Earth's atmosphere.

He believed that studying the ionosphere from space would help advance our understanding of a range of phenomena associated with solar storms—from disturbances in radio frequencies to the majestic Northern Lights.

It was a radical idea for its time.

Keep in mind that Sputnik, the first satellite in space, was launched in 1957, barely a year before Chapman's proposal.

Baptisé « Alouette-1 », le satellite a été lancé en 1962 et a fait du Canada le troisième pays dans l'espace.

International cooperation was at the heart of the Alouette-1 success story, for it was NASA—itself still in its infancy—that accepted to launch Canada's first scientific satellite in exchange for data.

However, NASA still considered Alouette-1 to be a long shot, and had little faith in Canada's space expertise.

NASA feared that, if it survived the launch at all, Alouette-1 would operate for just a few hours at best.

Alouette-1 n'a pas seulement fourni aux scientifiques des données impressionnantes tant en quantité qu'en qualité, il a également attiré l'attention des scientifiques du monde entier sur l'expertise canadienne.

And, of course, Alouette operated for 10 years, at which time it was switched off to orbit silently around the planet, as it still does today.

Following the success of Alouette-1, Alouette-2 was launched in 1965. Two more science satellites, ISIS-1 and 2, followed in the next five years.

Together, the data beamed back to Earth by these four Canadian satellites generated over 1200 scientific papers—nothing less than a scientific coup for Canada.

The Government of Canada continued to invest in space as a resource to address uniquely Canadian problems.

Quite simply, we turned to space because it made sense.

Faced with the challenge of communicating with a sparse population dispersed over a vast territory, the Government of Canada turned to space.

The Anik series of communications satellites, the first of their kind in the world, literally linked every corner of our nation through space.

Our Hermes satellite followed, which provided Canadians with the first national direct broadcast service via satellite.

Today, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation and Radio-Canada use satellite broadband and microwave retransmissions to reach nearly 99% of the population in six different time zones throughout the country.

When it is launched in one year, Telesat's Anik F-2, the latest generation in the series, will push the envelope even further.

It will bring specialized services, such as telemedicine, tele-education and access to e-commerce and high-speed Internet, to citizens living in urban, rural and remote communities throughout Canada.

In fact, and this is significant, an historic agreement has been signed between Telesat and Canada's 633 First Nations to provide them with access via satellite to high-speed communications and applications in their communities, most of them remote, by 2004.

This is but one example of what can result from a far-reaching vision.

Throughout the 1970s, while the world's media focused on developments in the American-Soviet “space race,” space science and technology continued to mature in Canada, and a new vision began to take shape.

With a growing international reputation founded upon its expertise in space, the Government of Canada chose to pursue its commitment to scientific and technological excellence even further by setting its sights on robotics.

Au début des années 70, la NASA a invité les chercheurs canadiens à jeter un coup d'œil sur les plans d'un futur lanceur réutilisable et rentable qui porterait éventuellement le nom de navette spatiale.

Lorsque les Canadiens se sont penchés sur les plans de la NASA en vue de la construction d'un bras robotique à bord de la navette, ils ont vu là l'occasion de faire un grand pas en avant et de réaliser leurs objectifs liés au développement de la technologie robotique.

In 1973, Canada began pursuing the development of a robotic arm designed for complex, on-orbit operations, such as satellite deployment and retrieval.

Under the direction of the National Research Council, with the expertise of Spar Aerospace, the Canadarm was born.

The first Canadarm was launched in 1981 onboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.

With the Canada wordmark proudly emblazoned on its side, the Canadarm's spectacular performance resulted in it being internationally recognized as a symbol of Canadian excellence.

It also made space robotics a key niche market for Canada in the newly emerging knowledge-based global economy.

Our original investment to design, develop and build the Canadarm was approximately $100 million—a considerable investment in these days.

But the payback was enormous.

From an economic perspective, our investment has resulted in over $750 million in export sales so far.

International cooperation in high-technology mega-projects was rare in the 70's.

This joint project became a model for a new international alliance and a sterling example of successful technology transfer.

Perhaps more significantly, the Canadarm's success paved the way for future international collaborative endeavours.

It led to an invitation for Canadian astronauts to participate in NASA's Human Spaceflight program.

To date, there have been 11 flights by Canadians, with Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Steve MacLean scheduled to fly a second time in May 2003.

And it led the United States to invite Canada to participate in the International Space Station.

Today, our Mobile Servicing System is continuing that tradition of excellence by literally building the International Space Station while in space.

Composed of Canadarm2, the Mobile Base System (which moves Canadarm2 along the length of the Station), and soon, the world's most advanced robot, Canada's contribution is absolutely critical to the construction and long-term maintenance of the Station.

Tomorrow morning, if you look to the skies around 6:07, you will see tangible evidence of Canada's achievements in international science programs.

For around 6:07 AM, the Space Station will emerge out of the dark horizon from the North West and blaze a trail across the morning sky.

And as you watch the Station glide silently overhead, the third brightest object in the sky, remember that the International Space Station has been permanently occupied since November 2nd, 2000—a permanent outpost for our species in space, assembled by Canadian ingenuity.

In the past 2 years, there has been a total of 112 visitors to the Station from 6 nations, including 3 Canadians.

A powerful symbol of international cooperation, the Station is being built by 15 countries united in advancing our collective scientific knowledge.

By contributing the robotics system that is building and maintaining the Station, Canada obtains the right for Canadian scientists to conduct experiments on board the Station.

And Canadian science conducted on board the Station can benefit life on Earth.

Take the EVARM experiment for instance, which stands for Extravehicular Activity Radiation Monitors.

Designed to keep astronauts safe by measuring how much radiation they receive during spacewalks, this Canadian technology, which was developed right here in Ottawa by a company called Thomson-Nielsen, is also adapted for use life here on Earth.

It is currently being used in about 400 cancer clinics worldwide (Numbers from July 2002.) to monitor the doses of radiation that cancer patients receive during therapy.

Canadian technology developed to monitor the health of astronauts while in space is now being used to serve our northern communities.

The I-SITE program, which stands for Intelligent Screening of Imagery for Tele-ophthalmology, uses telemedicine to monitor blindness caused by diabetes in Aboriginal communities in northern Alberta, where the risk of diabetes is 3 to 5 times higher than any other segment of the Canadian population.

Depuis ses débuts, avec l'arrivée du satellite Alouette, la raison d'être du Programme spatial canadien a d'abord et avant tout été de répondre aux besoins du gouvernement du Canada en fournissant des services de qualité aux Canadiens.

Ce rôle prend d'ailleurs de plus en plus d'importance aujourd'hui.

Peu après la création de l'Agence spatiale canadienne, à la fin des années 80, son mandat consistant à utiliser l'espace comme une ressource permettant de servir les intérêts du gouvernement du Canada, particulièrement dans les domaines de la souveraineté et de la sécurité, est passé au premier plan.

In 1969 and again in 1970, an ice-strengthened super-tanker, the Manhattan, under the flag of Humble Oil, transited the Northwest Passage without seeking permission of the Canadian Government.

However, it was the 1985 voyage of the Polar Sea, an American ice-breaker that touched off a serious diplomatic dispute between Canada and the U.S. over Canada's claim to sovereignty in the far north.

This incident led to the negotiation of an agreement on Arctic cooperation that required the United States to notify and seek consent before passage would be granted through Canadian waters.

The Government looked to space as a method of monitoring, if not asserting our sovereignty in the Far North.

In the late 1980s, Radarsat-1 was designed to provide surveillance of the country's huge expanse of land and sea, as well as the movement of ice and vessels.

When launched in 1995, Radarsat-1 was the world's first commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, with the unique capability of capturing images day and night in all weather conditions.

Now entering its eighth year of operations (well beyond its planned 5-year lifespan), Radarsat has captured 15% of the global market for Earth Observation data.

It boasts a global network of ground stations and a client base that includes more than 600 commercial and government users from some 58 countries.

As its name implies, Radarsat operates by scanning the Earth's surface using synthetic aperture radar, as opposed to taking optical images like a camera.

This allows the system to operate day and night, regardless of cloud cover—a powerful tool for monitoring the Earth and its environment.

The heart of the Canadian remote-sensing industry, RADARSAT-1 provides images that help dispatch icebreakers where needed; images that detect oil spills and support scientists in the fields of mineral and oil exploration, hydrology, forestry, oceanography and agriculture.

RADARSAT-1 has literally mapped the entire world. It has produced the first ever mosaic of Antarctica, of Canada in summer and in winter, of the contiguous United States.

Most recently, it has produced a complete map of Africa, where RADARSAT images are being used to locate groundwater sources, and to identify regions at risk for vector-borne diseases, such as malaria.

Since its launch, RADARSAT-1 has also responded to more than 50 international emergencies, including images it beamed to clean-up crews following an oil spill off the coast of the Galapagos Islands in 2001, to humanitarian aid crews following landslides in El Salvador in 2001.

More recently, you may have heard in the news that on September 8, 2002, Radarsat detected a 100-kilometre long oil slick off the coast of Newfoundland, which was traced back to a vessel allegedly responsible for its origin.

Today, and tomorrow, the Canadian Space Agency will increasingly seek to use its “eyes in the sky” as a unique vantage point for observing the Earth—monitoring our natural heritage; protecting our oceans; studying our atmosphere; and overall, acquiring a better understanding of our global ecosystem, which is under siege.

Le Programme spatial canadien apporte sa contribution au savoir mondial portant sur l'environnement de la planète grâce aux instruments scientifiques comme OSIRIS, un instrument canadien à bord du satellite suédois ODIN qui permet de déterminer non seulement où se produit le phénomène d'appauvrissement de la couche d'ozone, mais également comment il se produit en fonction de l'altitude.

The instruments that Canada has contributed to ENVISAT, the European Space Agency's largest and most comprehensive Earth Observation satellite ever, will help provide the most complete observation of our planet ever made by a satellite.

The size of a double-decker bus, ENVISAT will help scientists better understand how changes to our climate might affect our lands, oceans and atmosphere.

As a partner in NASA's Terra satellite, the Canadian Space Agency's Measures of Pollution in the Troposphere—or MOPITT—is helping produce the most complete view ever assembled of global air pollution in the most ambitious study ever undertaken of the earth's environmental processes.

For the first time, policymakers and scientists now have a way to identify the major sources of air pollution and can closely track where the pollution goes, anywhere on Earth.

The animation you see here is compiled of images taken by MOPITT, and shows how immense clouds of carbon monoxide from grassland and forest fires in Africa and South America slowly travel across the Southern Hemisphere as far as Australia during the dry season in this part of the world.

It is a dramatic visual reminder that we all share one atmosphere, and that pollution is everyone's problem.

In three years, the most sophisticated robot in the world will be launched to the International Space Station.

It is Canadian, and is being built in Canada right now.

In two years, RADARSAT-2, the most advanced commercial synthetic aperture radar satellite ever designed will be launched into space.

It is Canadian. It is being built in Canada right now.

In one year, the most advanced Ka-band “broadband” transponder ever built will be launched onboard Telesat's Anik F-2 communication satellite.

It is Canadian. It is being built in Canada, right now.

In the next six months, Canada will launch Scisat-1, the first Canadian science satellite in 30 years. It will focus on the ozone layer, which has decreased 6% over Canada in the past 20 years.

From communications satellites, to weather predictions, to monitoring the health of our environment, to Global Positioning Systems, space is changing our lives—almost on a daily basis. In 40 short years, the Canadian Space Program has established its worldwide credibility and has proven its expertise in space science and technology. And while Canada's legacy in space has made Canadians proud, the next twenty years will amaze them.

The most exciting adventure that humanity has ever conceived awaits Canadians!

With the pioneering spirit upon which our country was founded, Canada is forging ahead into the future and taking its first steps towards Mars.

The next major international science endeavour after the International Space Station, Mars looms before us with the tantalizing promise of answering some of the most fundamental questions about our solar system, our universe, and the origins of life.

One of the most easily identifiable objects in the night sky, the tiny red planet has captivated our imagination.

As our closest planetary neighbour, Mars holds a special appeal for the scientific community. It is the planet in our solar system that most resembles Earth. And, it is within reach.

Unlocking its secrets, may tell us more about the evolution, past and future, of our own planet. Researchers hope that by looking outward into the depths of the universe to planets like Mars, we may find answers to some of the most basic questions about life here on Earth: How did the Earth evolve? How was our solar system formed? Is there water — and possibly life — on Mars? Is there life elsewhere in the universe?

Canada is already off to Mars. As we speak, a Canadian scientific instrument, known as the Thermal Plasma Analyzer, is on its way to Mars on board the Japanese satellite Nozomi.

Lorsqu'il atteindra la planète Mars en 2004, l'Analyseur de plasma thermique, ou TPA, procurera à la communauté scientifique d'importantes informations sur l'origine et la composition de l'atmosphère martienne.

The international community is preparing to go even further to explore the Red Planet.

Science teams are being formed right now. If Canada wants to participate, we need to seize the moment now, or risk being left behind.

The good news is that Canadian scientists are able to make an important contribution to this international effort and Canadian technology can provide some of the tools.

Plans are taking shape to delve beneath Mars's surface, past the level of windswept soil pounded by fierce levels of radiation, to search for water, to search for life.

With our proven expertise in atmospheric studies, remote sensing, mining, and naturally, space robotics, Canadian scientists and Canadian industry are singularly well positioned to contribute to the future international exploration of Mars.

Within this decade, Canada would like to play a major role in a scientific mission to Mars using Canadian technology and expertise.

Our earliest possible involvement is 2007, at which time we could contribute scientific instruments and participate in science teams and the mission infrastructure of NASA's Scout Mission to send small airborne vehicles or landers to Mars.

Canada could also supply science instruments and mission infrastructure to NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, slated for a 2009 launch.

We are even studying proposals for a “Canadian Concept” mission in 2011.

This proposed mission would not be exclusively Canadian, for we recognize the value, and, indeed, the necessity, of collaborating with our international partners.

However, it would be “distinctly Canadian,” and would feature Canadian ideas, technologies and expertise.

Space has, and will continue to contribute in making this government an early adopter of innovative solutions to deliver its programs and promote Canadian industry expertise here and abroad. But we need to seize the moment now.

Now is the time for bold dreams, for a courageous vision that will shape our nation's future, as the Government of Canada's vision for space has shaped both our past and our present.

Now is the time that Canada's brightest minds can make a substantial contribution to international endeavours, which will ultimately serve Canadians in their daily lives, and prepare them to take their place in the growing, global, knowledge-based economy.

It is a time to seize upon our national spirit as pioneers and boldly take our nation's next steps into the unlimited potential of space.

Now is the time for Canada to make another mark in the annals of humanity's history.

It is the hallmark of the human spirit to take on great challenges. To explore. To learn. To grow. To go beyond.

I have one wish for the future of our country. May our ability to dream great visions lead us in the future as it has in the past. And may the greatest of those dreams be the least that we achieve.

Thank you.