Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA
Stephanie Ricci contributed to this story.
It's an exciting time for the space industry.
Earlier this summer, I moderated the McGill Space and Research Conference. Among our distinguished guests was Mike Greenley, the CEO of one of the world's most advanced space companies, who shed some light on the future of an economy in space.
“It’s a little bit of a space race to get to the moon,” said Greenley.
MDA, formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, is an international space mission partner and leader in robotics, satellite systems, and geointelligence. Founded in 1969, the company holds a 50-year history of firsts on and above the Earth.
Today, it has over 2500 employees across Canada, the U.S., and the U.K., and has firmly established Canadian engineering in space research. As market demand for next-generation technology in the global space economy increases, MDA’s future is looking as bright as the moon.
“We're currently going through a doubling of our business,” said Greenley. In 2021, the company added 670 new employees, and so far, in 2022 it has added 700 more.
MDA is behind Canadarm and Canadarm2, Canada’s most significant contribution to the International Space Station (ISS). In March 2022, the company won a $269-million contract to work on Canadarm3, an advanced AI-enabled evolution of the robotic arm that will be used on the lunar Gateway as part of the Artemis mission. Gateway is a new space station that will orbit the moon, approximately 400,000 km from Earth.
“We're going to get a glimpse into what is happening, at least from a Canadian point of view, for the next missions in space,” said Greenley.
The company’s world-leading satellite manufacturing business based in Sainte-Anne de Bellevue is also extending its capabilities to deliver advanced manufacturing of full satellites for low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellations. Last week, it announced a deal with Airbus OneWeb satellites to design and build Ka-Band steerable antennas. This is the fourth satellite deal announced by MDA this year.
As governments and companies look to expand into outer space, so are investments. According to Greenley, the private capital going into space-based enterprises has been booming.
“In the past four to five years, we’ve gone from $4 to $12 billion in annual investment globally,” he said. “Now, we see up to $16 billion of private capital going into space companies annually.”
According to Greenley, there are currently about 3,000 active satellites around the Earth, and it’s going to get more crowded.
A McKinsey study reports that about 11,000 satellites have been launched in the 64 years since Sputnik 1 in 1957 and estimates that over 70,000 more could soon enter orbit if proposed plans come to fruition.
“Space itself is creating its own economies and industries around just managing the volume of satellites over time,” he said. “We're involved with robotics and spacecraft activity, or what's called orbit servicing. Our spacecraft can latch on to a satellite and change its orbit, refuel it, give it a longer life or de-orbit it.”
Technological advancement and the frequency of industrial activity have decreased the cost of launching weight into space, lowering the barriers to entering the sector.
Among the main drivers for increased commercial space activity and opportunities are communications and Earth observation, said Greenley. He says that space-based networks can help policymakers realize the United Nations’ declaration of Internet access as a basic human right.
“Instead of laying fiber underneath oceans, across deserts or over rugged mountain areas, the ability to use space-based networks offers a powerful new tool that can reach the speeds of land-based optical networks,” he said. “People are investing capital in that and creating businesses to bring communications that help remote, rural and Indigenous communities.”
Equally powerful are Earth observation satellites that can help monitor natural disasters and climate change, illegal fishing and maritime traffic, and provide real-time insight on other global social and economic priorities.
As more companies invest in space, the opportunity for other activities such as mining and farming are also starting to emerge.
“Governments still have an important role to play in providing program funding and as the anchor customers on the big projects. Their support can advance the industry and remove barriers to entry,” said Greenley.
The CEO partially credits MDA’s success to the Canadian government’s key decisions over the years.
“Canada was there to get us into low-Earth orbit, to create the ISS, to get our first communications satellites and our first Earth observation satellites. Now, that’s all happening with commercial money,” he said.
As the industry’s business models shifts, governments are focusing on returning astronauts to the lunar surface by 2026 and to preparing the way for human missions to Mars with NASA’s Artemis program.
“Governments are spending money for those next big barrier events, which will flow down commercially as well,” said Greenley. “Space is like another continent; we're exploring, we're experiencing, we're going to set up colonies on the moon and eventually on Mars. We are pushing the boundaries of what we know about space and how we will work and live in space, and that makes it a very exciting time to be in the space industry and at MDA.”
