Canada's Space Policy Framework

Space is increasingly congested, contested and competitive. In October 1957, Sputnik 1 was the only artificial satellite in Earth orbit. Today, there are close to 1,100 operational satellites, and more than 22,000 pieces of orbital debris larger than 10 cm have been catalogued. Every G20 nation now has its own satellite system in space, and the emerging economies of China, Russia, India and Brazil have made substantial investments in their national space programs. For the Canadian space industry, that means greater competition even as it presents new customers and markets to be courted.

Meanwhile, the sheer number of objects in orbit makes the global communication infrastructure ever more vulnerable to the escalating risk of satellite collision. Cyber security is threatened by weapons that can disrupt space-borne communication or destroy space assets outright.