MDA Space Ltd. is a Canadian space technology company headquartered in

Brampton, Ontario Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

, Canada, that provides geointelligence, robotics and space operations, and satellite systems.

History

MDA Space (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates) was founded in 1969 by John S. MacDonald and Vern Dettwiler in the basement of MacDonald's Vancouver home. The company became a subsidiary of

Orbital Sciences Corporation Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

(OSC) from the United States on 17 November 1995. MDA was primary contractor for, and took ownership of, the RADARSAT-2 Earth observation satellite. MDA bought the space robotics division of

Spar Aerospace SPAR Aerospace was a Canadian aerospace company. It produced equipment for the Canadian Space Agency to be used in cooperation with NASA's Space Shuttle program, most notably the Canadarm, a remote manipulator system. The company went through a s ...

—manufacturer of the Canadarm—in March 1999, renaming it MD Robotics. The company completed the Mobile Servicing System (including the Canadarm2) for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. OSC sold its entire stake in 2001. Nearly 70% was sold to a group of Canadian investors; the

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board () is an independent organization responsible for administering defined benefit pension plan, defined-benefit pensions for school teachers of the provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of ...

(OTPP) became the largest shareholder with a 29% stake. In the 2000s, MDA experienced difficulties winning government contracts in the United States due to its foreign ownership. In 2008, an attempt to sell the space division to

Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, arms manufacturer headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. The company operated across 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. ATK reven ...

was blocked by the Canadian government on national security grounds. The subsequent lack of Canadian business led to layoffs. The real estate information business was sold in early 2011. MDA bought Space Systems/Loral from Loral Space & Communications in 2012., leading to OTPP reducing its stake to less than 10%. MDA bought DigitalGlobe in 2017, and rebranded as

Maxar Technologies Maxar Technologies Inc. is an American space technology company headquartered in Westminster, Colorado, United States, specializing in geospatial intelligence, Earth observation, and on-orbit servicing satellites, satellite products, and relate ...

.; the company moved its headquarters to Colorado, United States. On 8 April 2020, Toronto-based investment firm Northern Private Capital bought the MDA assets from Maxar for (). and named the new company MDA; the company is headquartered in Canada. On 9 December 2020, The

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took ...

(CSA) awarded MDA a contract to develop and construct the Canadarm3 as part of Canada's contribution to the NASA-led

Lunar Gateway The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a planned space station which is to be assembled in orbit around the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts as part ...

Program. The contract is for the first phase of the program and is worth C$22.8 million, with options for follow-on phases. The contract was further confirmed on December 16, 2020, when NASA and the CSA announced the finalised agreement to collaborate on the Gateway, which included the Canadarm3, the installation of two scientific instruments and commitment to provide two crew positions for Canadian astronauts. On 7 April 2021, MDA became a publicly traded company on the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; ) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the List of stock exchanges, 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in th ...

trading under the symbol MDA. On 16 August 2023,

Telesat Telesat, formerly Telesat Canada, is a Canadian satellite communications company (law), company founded on May 2, 1969. The company is headquartered in Ottawa. History Founding and privatization (1969-2005) Telesat began in 1969 as Telesat C ...

Canada announced it had chosen MDA to build 198 small satellites for the Telesat Lightspeed

Low Earth Orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

(LEO) program. The project will take advantage of MDA’s digital beamforming array antennas and integrated regenerative processor. The Lightspeed satellite is slightly smaller than those previously being considered. Antenna design and manufacturing will be in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec. On March 7, 2024, MDA announced it had rebranded to MDA Space.Accessed 7 March 2024, https://mda.space/en/article/mda-rebrands-to-mda-space

Facilities

Canada

* Brampton, ON (HQ) * Kanata, ON *

Ottawa, ON Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

* Montreal, QC *

Richmond, BC Richmond is a city in the coastal Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly a suburban city, it occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough, New Westminster, Queensborough), between the two estuarine dis ...

* Halifax, NS

International offices

Didcot Didcot ( ) is a railway town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, located south of Oxford, east of Wantage and north west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. Historically part of Berkshire, the town is noted ...

, United Kingdom *

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

, United Kingdom *

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, United Kingdom *

Houston, TX Houston ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the seat of Harris County, as well as the principal city of ...

, USA

History

Facilities

Canada

International offices

References

Further reading