Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06MONTREAL616
2006-06-01 12:59:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Montreal
Cable title:  

Visit of NASA Deputy Administrator Dale to the

Tags:  TSPA CA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4725
RR RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHMT #0616/01 1521259
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 011259Z JUN 06
FM AMCONSUL MONTREAL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9769
INFO RUCNCAN/ALCAN COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTREAL 000616 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

SECSTATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PD, DS/IP/WHA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPA CA

SUBJECT: Visit of NASA Deputy Administrator Dale to the
Canadian Space Agency

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MONTREAL 000616

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

SECSTATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PD, DS/IP/WHA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPA CA

SUBJECT: Visit of NASA Deputy Administrator Dale to the
Canadian Space Agency


1. (U) Summary: On May 23, NASA Deputy Administrator Shana
Dale and NASA Assistant Administrator Michael F. OBrien
met with the Acting President of the Canadian Space Agency
(CSA) Carole Lacombe and a team of CSA experts to discuss
current and future areas for U.S.-Canadian space
cooperation. Embassy Ottawa EMIN Brian Mohler and ConGen
Montreal Econ officer Anne Coleman also attended the
meeting. Ms. Lacombe gave an overview of the CSAs mission
and operations, underscored the importance of the U.S. as a
partner for the CSA, and spoke about the importance of
encouraging grass-roots level support for space
exploration. She anticipates getting Canadian cabinet
approval in June to allow CSA to negotiate a space
framework agreement with the U.S. Deputy Administrator
Dale reassured her Canadian counterparts about the strong
U.S. commitment to the International Space Station, and
expressed the need to continue a dialogue about space
exploration with Canada and other international partners.
End summary.

-------------- --
Canada pursues niche expertise in space science
-------------- --


2. (U) The CSA, created in 1989 as an agency of the
Canadian government, reports to Minister of Industry Maxime
Bernier. It has its headquarters in a Montreal suburb,
runs a testing and integration facility in Ottawa, and has
offices in Ottawa, Washington, Paris, and Houston. The CSA
contracts nearly three quarters of its C$300 million annual
operating budget to industry and academia. With such a
modest budget, the CSA focuses on developing expertise in
niche markets of space exploration, such as the human
adaptation to the space environment, robotics, and
automation. Canada also pursues international partnerships
to help it leverage its niche expertise with the United
States, Europe, Japan, Russia, and India, among others.
With 7000 employees and C$2.9 billion in annual revenues,
the Canadian space sector is dispersed throughout the
country, and is comprised mostly of small and medium-sized
enterprises.


3. (U) Ms. Lacombe noted that she wished to explore how the
use of Canadian technology in niche fields could further
support U.S. space activities. The Canadian-developed
program RadarSat offers the technology to take surface
images through clouds, detect oil spills by changes in the

roughness of the ocean surface, and measure hurricane wind
speed at ground level rather than at airplane-height.
CloudSat, a joint NASA-CSA program in which radar slices
through clouds to assess their vertical structure, has
revolutionized the observational capacity from space, and
demonstrated the impact of U.S.-Canadian space cooperation.

-------------- --
The Conservative Government and Space Prospects
-------------- --


4. (U) Ms. Lacombe said that the recent election of a
minority conservative government had impacted the
importance space exploration would be granted on the
Canadian governments agenda. While she acknowledged that
the Harper governments current efforts mostly focused on
delivering the priorities presented during the recent
election campaign (in which space exploration was not an
issue),she stated that the CSA is seeking Industry
Minister Maxime Berniers support for space investments.
She noted that the fact that Minister Bernier hails from
Quebec might also make him more open to strengthening a
government institution headquartered in his home province.
At the same time, Ms. Lacombe noted that the CSA would need
to create a case for participating in space research with
the Canadian government. CSA expects shortly to receive
Cabinet approval to conclude a framework agreement with
the U.S. that will allow it to pursue international
cooperation in space exploration without needing
parliamentary approval for individual projects. This
should brighten prospects for the ease of future U.S.-
Canadian space cooperation.

-------------- --------------
Future prospects for US-Canadian space cooperation
-------------- --------------


5. (U) Ms. Lacombe noted that the CSA (including the space
industry and its associated research community) remains
interested in participating in space exploration and that
Canada fully supports the International Exploration
Workshops on returning to the Moon. Affirming that NASA

MONTREAL 00000616 002 OF 002


is our most important partner, Ms. Lacombe noted that
Canada has strategic capabilities in the field of space
research and that its interactions with NASA over the near-
term would aid its efforts to secure more political
engagement and budget commitments towards further space
exploration. She raised the possibility of using lessons
from the existing International Space Station as a starting
point for future exploration(s). She speculated that
further engagement and investments on Canadas part would
be likely to materialize were Canada able to attain a
meaningful, visible, and sustainable role in space
exploration, and that the U.S.-Canada Framework agreement,
once approved, would make future space cooperation easier
to pursue. Ms. Lacombe stated that grass roots support for
the Vision for Space Exploration would be crucial in
attaining future government support and continuing
momentum.


6. (U) Deputy Administrator Dale assured her CSA
counterparts of the USGs strong commitment to the
International Space Station and the importance of the
mutually beneficial partnership of U.S.-Canadian space
cooperation. She noted the success of the recent
exploration strategy workshop. Members of the workshop
inquired about how governance of lunar territory would
operate, wondering whether an Antarctic model would be
used. Deputy Administrator Dale noted that the presence of
more traditional and less traditional partners would make
certain governance structures more difficult to implement
in space exploration. She affirmed the U.S. commitment to
working with international partners to extend the human
presence outside of the Low Earth Orbit, a feat that has
not been accomplished in the last thirty-five years.


7. (U) Heralding the success of the Space Exploration
Strategy Workshop (held in April 2006),Deputy
Administrator Dale noted that it had offered the
possibility for space-faring nations to generate ideas
about how best to move forward in space exploration and how
to develop an effective strategy to deal with space efforts
after the end of both the Space Shuttle and the
International Space Station programs. Although she
acknowledged that she could not make any commitments that
would bind future administrations to space exploration
commitments, she noted that the U.S. support for the Vision
of Space Exploration (lunar exploration and beyond) has
been, and would likely remain, strong. The Space Shuttle
will be retired in 2010. Although the International Space
Station is due for retirement in 2016, NASA is
investigating what it would take to extend its life beyond
that date, potentially to 2020.


8. (U) NASAs Jennifer Troxell has cleared this cable.

MARSHALL