Podcast Episode 26: Michelle Mendes on Small Satellites and the Canadian SmallSat Symposium

Ex-Alta 1 CubeSat. Credit: Andy Kale, University of Alberta

My guest this week on the SpaceQ podcast is Michelle Mendes, the Executive Director and President of the Canadian Space Commerce Association.

The Canadian Space Commerce Association is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2007 that describes itself as the national association for the space sector, representing industry, academia, professionals, young entrepreneurs and students. Michelle is also a member of the independent Space Advisory Board created by the government to provide ongoing input on Canada’s space sector.

I spoke to Michelle about satellites, in particular how technology and miniaturization of components has allowed researchers and companies to build much smaller and less costly satellites for a variety of tasks including earth observation. We’re using these small satellites for farming, monitoring our climate, disaster response, ship tracking and more.

Next February 13 -15 in Toronto the Association will be holding its second Canadian SmallSat Symposium. The first conference was held in February 2016 and was sold out. The Association is hoping to attract upwards of 400 people for the conference.

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About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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