MDA Space continues work on Gateway robotic arm
MDA Space is continuing work on a robotic arm for the lunar Gateway while it discusses the future of the project with the Canadian Space Agency.
In a May 7 earnings call to discuss the company's first-quarter financial results, MDA executives said they are pressing ahead with Canadarm3 despite NASA's announcement in March that it was effectively canceling the Gateway to focus instead on a lunar base. Canadarm3 is Canada's contribution to the Gateway, which also includes elements provided by Europe, Japan and the United Arab Emirates as well as NASA itself.
MDA Space received a contract worth 1 billion Canadian dollars ($730 million) in 2024 for the design and assembly of Canadarm3, a robotic arm that would support external operations for the Gateway. It won a contract in 2020 for initial work on Canadarm3, a year after the Canadian government announced it would participate on the Gateway by providing a robotic system.
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"The recent changes to the Artemis mission are part of a renewed focus on accelerating a return to the lunar surface and driving increased momentum for our robotics capabilities," Mike Greenley, chief executive of MDA Space, said during the call. "We continue discussions with the Canadian Space Agency on redefining the Canadarm3 robotic systems that will be required to support this new and exciting phase of moon exploration."
While those discussions continue, he said the company is working "full steam ahead" on the robotic arm system. "The project team continues to execute as planned towards final designs" of Canadarm3, he said. "There are a series of conversations that are occurring in parallel about the opportunity to potentially pivot that capability towards the lunar surface."
He didn't elaborate on what alternatives the company and agency are discussing but mentioned "positive intent" to find a solution. "They need to happen soon, so as to ensure that the full-steam-ahead posture on the program is driving towards the right outcome."
Despite NASA's decision to end the Gateway and thus put Canada's contributions in question, Greenley said he supported the changes in the Artemis architecture NASA announced in March, including many more lunar landings. "That's a tremendous opportunity that comes from that for other nations to contribute technologies and solutions to that," including Canada, he said.
He added that, through both Canadarm3 and commercial robotics systems like its MDA Skymaker line, there was a "strong opportunity" for MDA Space in lunar exploration. "We're very positive about the opportunity here."
Greenley also addressed another major contract affected by recent developments. MDA Space is the prime contractor for a set of Globalstar replacement satellites under a 2022 contract that included 17 satellites with options for nine more. Amazon announced April 14 it reached a deal worth about $11 billion to acquire Globalstar.
The acquisition will not affect those replacement satellites. Greenley said in the call that MDA Space delivered the first set of those 17 satellites in the first quarter. "This marks a defining moment in MDA Space history, and validates our evolution as a satellite prime contractor," he said.
Amazon said when it announced the deal that it would continue with both those replacement satellites as well as a separate contract with MDA for more than 50 direct-to-device satellites.
With the acquisition not expected to close until 2027, Greenley said MDA is focused on executing on its current contracts with Globalstar and has not talked with Amazon about future plans.
"I'm sure that as we start getting these constellations launched and the like, then we can start talking about how are things going to work going forward into the future," he said, "and we'll see if any opportunities emerge there."
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