Canada is among the world’s longest-standing space-faring nations. Its first satellite, Alouette-1, launched in 1962, made Canada the third country to design and build a successful satellite, and it operated far beyond its planned lifetime, supporting ionospheric research for a decade. Since then, Canada has developed a strong record in human spaceflight, with ten Canadians having participated in space missions and having the first non-American take part in a lunar flyby during the Artemis II mission (April 2026).
The Space Economy at a Glance 2026
Canada remains closely integrated into international exploration activities. It also maintains a long-standing and unique cooperation agreement with the European Space Agency, enabling Canadian firms and researchers to participate in selected ESA programmes and tenders. Canadian technological strengths include robotics, earth observation, satellite communications and downstream services, with flagship capabilities in synthetic-aperture radar through the RADARSAT programme and commercial satellite communications. These capabilities also contribute to broader national priorities such as Arctic monitoring, emergency management and remote connectivity.
As of June 2026, Canada ranked 11th globally in satellite ownership and 10th for satellites launched since 2019, largely reflecting strong commercial activity in the sector.
In 2025, Canada’s civilian institutional space budget amounted to USD 973.8 million (CAD 1 361 million), representing 0.043% of Canada’s gross domestic product. The amount may not capture all space-related funding and represents already a steep increase compared with the years 2015-24, mainly associated with increased investment in European Space Agency programmes and space exploration activities (Figure 5.1). In 2026, Canada introduced the Canadian Space Launch Act, establishing a regulatory framework for space launch and re-entry activities. Several Canadian space companies are developing domestic launch capabilities, and commercial spaceports in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are currently under development.
The Government of Canada is supporting the growth of this sovereign dual-use space capability through a range of funding programs and initiatives. Canada’s civil space budget is also benefiting from growing interest in dual-use capabilities within the defence sector. In 2026, the government released Canada’s Defense Industrial Strategy, which identifies key sovereign capabilities in the space domain. This includes Space-Based Intelligence; Surveillance and Reconnaissance; Space Domain Awareness; Satellite Communications; and Space Launch. Strategic investments in these areas have already begun, primarily in the launch sector, where the government announced a 10-year CAD 200 million agreement to lease a dedicated space launch pad as well as a CAD 105 million contest to launch Canadian payloads from Canadian soil.
In constant CAD and USD million, base year 2015
Source: OECD analysis based on institutional sources.
Note: In Panel B, the values sum to 100%, with the remaining budget (4.1%) allocated towards corporate services.
Canada accounted for about 2% of global space-related patent applications in the 2020-23 period (Figure 5.2), which is about the same as in 2010-13. The great majority of applications were filed by private firms. Canada has a positive revealed technological advantage (RTA), meaning that its share in space-related patenting is higher than its share in overall patenting activities. This relative specialisation has increased since 2010-13.
The Canadian space industry covers the entire value chain, from manufacturing to the delivery of satellite services. The sector generated USD 3.6 billion (CAD 5 billion) in revenues in 2024, down from previous years due to the continued decline in satellite broadcasting (which is a general global phenomenon not reserved to Canada). However, non-broadcasting revenues reached a record CAD 3.6 billion in 2024, with space systems manufacturing accounting for a growing share of total revenues. There are several other signs of growth in the Canadian space economy. In the same year, the sector contributed CAD 3.8 billion to Canada’s GDP, a 15.4% increase in real terms compared to 2019. The space sector also employed over 14 600 direct full-time-equivalents in 2024, a 24% increase since 2019.
IP5 patent families, by priority date and applicant's location, using fractional counts
Note: IP5 patent families correspond to patent families filed in at least two offices worldwide, including at least one of the Five IP largest offices (IP5, i.e. the European Patent Office, EPO; the Japan Patent Office, JPO; the Korean Intellectual Property Office, KIPO; The China National Intellectual Property Administration, CNIPA; and the US Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO). Patents related to space-related technologies have been identified by the EPO using the EPO-PATSTAT 2025b data (https://www.epo.org/patstat).
Source: OECD (2026[1]), STI Micro-data Lab: Intellectual Property Database, http://oe.cd/ipstats, June 2026.
In terms of space-related scientific production and excellence, Canada’s space literature (measured in fractional counts) has increased since 2009, as has its share of internationally co-authored papers (Figure 5.3). When looking at citations, a common proxy for scientific excellence, 13.1% of Canada’s space literature was in the top-10 percentile for citations in 2024. This is above the OECD average of 12%. Canada’s normalised citation score, comparing citation patterns within specific scientific fields, is above the world average in the All-Science Journal Classification (ASJC) categories “earth and planetary sciences”, “physics and astronomy”, and “engineering”.
Fractional counts
Note: Perimeter of documents based on filtered journal titles and All Science Journal Classification codes in the Scopus database.
Source: OECD calculations based on Scopus Custom Data, Elsevier, Version 1.2026, https://www.elsevier.com/products/scopus, April 2026.
Based on data in the OECD Development Assistance Committee Creditor Reporting System database, Canada committed some 11.5 million constant US dollars in space-related official development assistance over the 2010-23 period, (Figure 5.4). Commitments applying satellite technologies and data targeted the following sectors: “Other multi-sector” (zoonotic disease outbreak prevention, disaster risk reduction), general environmental protection and agriculture.
In constant USD million (base year=2023)
Source: Calculations based on OECD (2025[2])), “Creditor Reporting System (CRS)", OECD.stat (database), https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=CRS1 (accessed July 2025).
References
[4] Canadian Space Agency (2026), 2025 State of the Canadian Space Sector, https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/publications/2025-state-canadian-space-sector.asp.
[3] McDowell, J. (2026), Jonathan’s Space Report, https://www.planet4589.org/index.html (accessed on 23 June 2026).
[1] OECD (2026), STI Micro-data Lab: Intellectual Property Database, http://oe.cd/ipstats (accessed on June 2026).
[2] OECD (2025), Creditor Reporting System (CRS), database, https://data-explorer.oecd.rg.