The Daily Broadcast: Launch Canada Returns, Calian Raises Outlook, ISS Spacewalk

Launch Canada Challenge Kicks Off Fifth Year in Timmins

Student rocketry teams from across the country are gathering in northern Ontario today as the Launch Canada Challenge opens its fifth year. The event runs Aug. 15 to 21, split between a conference at the Archie Dillon Sportsplex in Timmins and a launch site southwest of the city on the lands of Mattagami First Nation.

High school, university, and college teams compete in three categories: the launch challenge itself, a technology development challenge, and a payload challenge where Launch Canada encourages teams to develop and fly an innovative payload. Teams present their rockets, technologies, and payloads at the conference before heading to the launch site for competition attempts.

Industry attendees include MDA Space, Pratt & Whitney, Reaction Dynamics, and NordSpace. Saturday’s presentations feature Hubert Fortier and Mike Martin of NordSpace, Mel Holmes of the Canada Rocket Company, Melissa Quinn of MDA Space, and Marco Convertini and Adrian Comisso of Pratt & Whitney. Student talks include McGill on scaling up rocket engine testing, CU InSpace on their Skirt Reefing Recovery System, and the University of Toronto Aerospace team on aerodynamic control of a supersonic sounding rocket.

Launch attempts run Aug. 17 to 21, with weather conditions a constant factor. A successful launch factors into scoring but is not strictly required — the definition of “successful” can vary depending on the team and their goals.

Calian Raises Full-Year Outlook After 20% Revenue Jump

Ottawa-based Calian Group raised its full-year guidance on Thursday after reporting a third quarter in which revenue rose 20 per cent. The company now expects mid-teens revenue growth for the year, up from the low-teens guidance it issued in May, and adjusted EBITDA growth in the low twenties, up from the high teens.

Will Majic, acting chief financial officer, cautioned that part of the quarter’s strength came from work pulled forward out of the fourth quarter, and the organic growth rate is not one the company can count on repeating. Investors took the raise positively — shares rose 7 per cent to $91.58 on the Toronto Stock Exchange and have nearly doubled over the past year.

Nine-month revenue is up 17 per cent and adjusted EBITDA is up 41 per cent, each ahead of May guidance. “Perhaps most striking is that our adjusted EBITDA has already reached $76 million, nearly matching our full-year adjusted EBITDA from last year, and we still have runway ahead of us,” Majic told analysts. The company’s longer-run target of 10 to 15 per cent annual growth remains unchanged.

Under Patrick Houston, who replaced Kevin Ford as chief executive in December, Calian has narrowed from four operating units to two — Defence & Space, and Essential Industries. The company has more than 6,000 staff worldwide.

ISS Crew Preps Canadarm2 for Tuesday Spacewalk

Expedition 74 flight engineers Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) and Jessica Meir of NASA work together inside the International Space Station’s Quest airlock. Adenot is wearing a… | Source: NASA

Expedition 75 crew members spent Friday practising Canadarm2 robotic arm maneuvers and reviewing procedures for a spacewalk scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 18. Flight engineers Anil Menon of NASA and Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency will spend about six-and-a-half hours outside the station replacing a high-speed data and communications antenna on the Z1 truss segment.

Flight engineer Jack Hathaway and station commander Jessica Meir will work inside the station, helping the spacewalkers in and out of their spacesuits and operating the Canadarm2 with Menon attached to help swap the antenna for a spare.

Between spacewalk preparations, the crew continued science operations studying space exercise techniques and exploring aerodynamic drag forces.

Citations

“Launch Canada Challenge returns to Timmins for fifth year of student rocketry” — https://spaceq.ca/launch-canada-challenge-returns-to-timmins-for-fifth-year-of-student-rocketry/
“Calian Q3 2026 results: raised outlook, lighter order book” — https://spaceq.ca/calian-q3-2026-results-raised-outlook-lighter-order-book/
“Week Ends Aboard Station With Robotics, Spacewalk Reviews, and Science” — https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/08/14/week-ends-aboard-station-with-robotics-spacewalk-reviews-and-science/

USSF-366

Provider: SpaceX
Date: August 15, 2026
Time: 9:54 PM UTC
Vehicle: Falcon 9

USSF-366 is a classified mission for the United States Space Force. It is possibly a batch of classified LEO satellites for a US government entity based on SpaceX’s Starshield satellite bus, based on locations of rocket stage drop zones being exact fits with previous Starlink Group 15 launches.

Globalstar 2-R Mission 1 (x 9)

Provider: SpaceX
Date: August 16, 2026
Time: 1:12 AM UTC
Vehicle: Falcon 9

The Globalstar global mobile communications network offers global, digital real time voice, data and fax services via its Low Earth Orbit satellite constellation. The constellation operates in a 1410 km orbit inclined at 52 degrees.

In early 2022, Globalstar contracted with MDA for the construction of 17 new 2nd generation refresh satellites to replenish the existing constellation. Rocket Lab is sub-contracted to build the satellites’ buses and the launch dispensers.