Grants and Contributions:

Nanosatellite Platform Development to Support Canadian New Space Ventures

25STDPX37

$999,638.00

Aug 1, 2025 - Jun 30, 2028

Quaternion Aerospace will develop a low cost, highly capable, and fully Canadian nanosatellite platform to strengthen domestic space industry capabilities and decouple from reliance on foreign suppliers. This platform will provide all of the systems needed to build a satellite, allowing Canada’s science, business, and defense industries to get their technologies into orbit quicker and at a lower cost, without any dependence on foreign countries. Quaternion will offer an off-the-shelf solution - either as individual components, or as a complete satellite bus - ready to be tailored to Canada's most pressing needs, from Artic military surveillance to detection and monitoring of wildfires, to forestry and crop monitoring. This will allow more of the money spent in these critical areas to remain in Canada, foster a strong domestic aerospace HQP pool, and accelerate the pace of innovation to ensure that Canada remains, strong, sovereign, and competitive in an ever-changing world.

Canadian Space Agency

The Research component of the program provides financial support to organizations to conduct space related research and development in priority areas. It will support targeted knowledge development and innovation to sustain and enhance the Canadian capacity to use space to address national needs and priorities in the future.

Victoria, British Columbia, CA V8N 1S6

003-2025-2026-Q2-00016

Contribution

Grants and Contributions

For-profit organization

Quaternion Engineering Inc.

STDP AO 9.1 Space R&D - Advanced Technologies

Canada's Innovation and Skills Plan is focused on three priority areas to spur innovation: People, Technologies, and Companies. Working with industry, the Government of Canada will encourage innovation by increasing its support for basic research and development (R&D) in space technology development. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is issuing this Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to support the development of Canadian industrial capabilities in the area of space technologies with the aim of increasing the commercial potential of Canadian space companies to capture global opportunities.

It is paramount that the Canadian space industry remains strong, healthy and relevant, and that it has the required readiness to respond to national demand and the necessary competitiveness to secure an increased share of commercial and institutional markets worldwide. Only through innovation and continued investments in R&D can Canada ensure that it has the industrial depth and breadth to remain a valued player in the international arena.

In light of the above, this AO concerning Space R&D – Advanced Technologies will award non-repayable contributions up to $1M per advanced space technology project that expect commercial potential in the short to medium term (i.e., two to five years).