A group of space enthusiasts from diverse backgrounds are excited to meet in London to discuss Canada’s ambitions for space and technology at a conference at Western University starting Monday.
The three-day Space as a National Asset for Canada 2022 (SNAC) conference will be hosted by Western Space, welcoming people from a variety of sectors including academia, business, science and government.
Participants will explore the current and future value of space technologies for terrestrial applications and how to observe the planet to address issues such as climate change, food insecurity, law and policy, among many others, said the director of Western Space Sarah Gallagher.
People aren’t aware of all the ways their daily activities depend on what happens in space, Gallagher said. These include ATM visits, weather forecasts and connecting with loved ones around the world.
“We have a whole network of satellites in space that connect people all over the world and are susceptible to things like large solar storms, which can damage and knock out satellites, and which can affect things that happen in the land,” he said.
Space as a “national asset”
Sarah Gallagher is director of the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at Western University. (SNAC UWO website)
For a country as large as Canada, the use of assets (satellites in space) is necessary to respond to the major environmental changes currently occurring, Gallagher said.
“The North is warming faster than the rest of the world, so it’s really important that we have good information about how climate change is affecting the land mass so we can figure out what we’re going to do and how to adapt.” she said
Gallagher expects climate change to be an important topic of discussion at SNAC, along with the progress of the James Webb Telescope, and how the study of Earth’s systems can be useful in caring for the planet, he said.
It’s a fantastic opportunity for Canada to become a leader in space technology, and with global demands on the rise, investing in space is crucial, Gallagher said.
“The other countries won’t give us the services and the data we need, so it’s important that we also play in this game. We have a lot of capacity and strength, but we can’t sit back because it’s very competitive, and everyone is running to get into this game “.
However, it is essential to work with other countries and be careful how this information is used because the exploitation of space can cause problems for everyone, Gallagher added.
“We can only put so many low orbits into space, and if we don’t take care of them, they can crash into each other and create a lot of space debris, and you can screw up Earth’s orbit, which would hurt the whole world.”
Gallagher hopes that this event can bring people of all backgrounds together to find shared tools and solutions to address the world’s important challenges.