No longer carrying Canadian cargo (Image: Rex)

Canada has blocked the launch of a satellite aboard a Russian rocket as a result of tensions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The move is a step up from a largely symbolic US ban on cooperating with Russia in space earlier this month.

The M3M satellite was built by Com Dev of Cambridge, Ontario, under contract for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and is designed to track and monitor marine vessels. It was scheduled for launch on a Russian Soyuz rocket in June, and was due to be shipped to the launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

“Recognising the current events in Ukraine, we had been engaged in discussions with the government of Canada with respect to a potential delay of the launch of M3M, and plans to mitigate the impact of any delay,” said Mike Pley, CEO of Com Dev, in a statement released by the company yesterday.


Russia’s launch is likely to still go ahead, as M3M was due to be a secondary payload. Com Dev and the CSA, meanwhile, plan to launch the M3M satellite on another rocket. “We are confident that the mitigations will be in place prior to the originally planned M3M in-service date of September 2014,” said Pley.

Alternative ride?

But unlike the US, Canada doesn’t have its own vehicles capable of launching a satellite into orbit and so must hitch a ride on rockets launched by others. It isn’t yet clear who might provide an alternative, and since satellite launches are normally booked far in advance it may prove difficult for Canada to find a new ride.

Canada has imposed other restrictions on Russia as a result of the Ukraine crisis, such as economic sanctions against a Crimean oil and gas company and the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from an embassy in Ottawa.

Earlier this month NASA announced it was suspending cooperation with Russia, although the International Space Station was excluded from the ban. NASA only has a few smaller-scale joint activities with Russia, such as an instrument aboard its Curiosity Mars rover, but there are no signs these have been affected by the boycott.