MDA SPACE REOPENS OPERATIONS AT DAVID FLORIDA LABORATORY
Ensures critical sovereign satellite and space systems integration and testing capabilities remain available to all industry in Canada
BRAMPTON, ON, June 27, 2025 /CNW/ - MDA Space Ltd. (TSX: MDA), a trusted mission partner to the rapidly expanding global space industry, today announced it has taken over operation of the David Florida Laboratory (DFL) in Ottawa, ensuring this world-class testing facility remains open to industry and under sovereign Canadian control. The facility houses essential infrastructure that enables the assembly, integration and testing of entire spacecraft and satellite systems and subsystems to ensure their ability to operate in the harsh conditions of space. No other facility of its kind is commercially available in Canada.
Owned and operated by the Canadian Government since the 1970s, DFL has been a strategic national asset and integral part of Canada's national and industrial end-to-end space capability for decades, supporting the development of space technology and critical missions for both the government and private sector. The facility has played a pivotal role in establishing Canada's world-leading national and industrial space capabilities including critical components of the James Webb Space Telescope, all Canadarm space robotics, the RADARSAT family of Earth observation satellites, and multiple generations of essential communications satellites that support every aspect of the daily lives of Canadians.
MDA's stewardship of the facility underscores its commitment to advancing the nation's space ambitions while ensuring Canadian companies have the resources they need to succeed in a growing and commercializing global space industry.
"The David Florida Laboratory is an irreplaceable national asset and the operational transfer to industry at a time of rapid commercialization of the global and domestic space industry is a natural evolution," said Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space. "We are honoured to take on this responsibility to ensure DFL remains open to all industry for the long term, preserving Canada's sovereign space capabilities and helping to foster innovation and growth across the Canadian space sector."
The David Florida Laboratory will continue to support a range of assembly, integration and test (AI&T) requirements including Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), thermal vacuum, antenna and vibration test services. MDA Space is committed to providing fair and equitable access to all industry partners to test and validate their advanced technologies on a competitive fee-for-services basis.
Details of integration and testing services offered at DFL are available on the MDA Space LaunchPad porta l or by contacting [email protected].
ABOUT MDA SPACE
Building the space between proven and possible, MDA Space (TSX: MDA) is a trusted mission partner to the global space industry. A robotics, satellite systems and geointelligence pioneer with a 55-year+ story of world firsts and more than 450 missions, MDA Space is a global leader in communications satellites, Earth and space observation, and space exploration and infrastructure. The MDA Space team of more than 3,400 space experts in Canada, the US and the UK has the knowledge and know-how to turn an audacious customer vision into an achievable mission – bringing to bear a one-of-a-kind mix of experience, engineering excellence and wide-eyed wonder that's been in our DNA since day one. For those who dream big and push boundaries on the ground and in the stars to change the world for the better, we'll take you there. For more information, visit mda.space.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Canada Standard
2 hours ago
- Canada Standard
US President Donald Trump terminates trade talks with Canada
Washington DC [US], June 28 (ANI): US President Donald Trump announced on Friday (US local time) that the United States will be terminating all discussions on trade with Canada, effective immediately. In a post on Truth Social, Trump called Canada a 'very difficult' country to trade with. He pointed out that the Digital Services Tax announced by the Canadian government is a blatant attack on America and its businesses. 'We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400 per cent Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country. They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us,' US President said. The Government of Canada has introduced the digital services tax (DST). The DST requires foreign and domestic large businesses to pay tax on certain revenue earned from engaging with online users in Canada if they meet certain conditions, as per a statement issued by the Canadian Revenue Agency. Trump further said that Canada will be informed about the tariffs they will have to pay to do business with the US within the next seven days. 'Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven-day period. Thank you for your attention to this matter!' he wrote. According to CNN, DST allows countries to collect revenue from large companies that operate online, even if their business is unprofitable. Citing a report published by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, CNN noted that American firms, particularly big tech companies like Meta, Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft, are disproportionately affected by DSTs. CNN reported that the US President had taken up the issue of DSTs in the trade negotiations with other countries and had referred to them as 'non-tariff trade barriers.' It further reported that Canada has a new DST, which is set to come into effect from Monday and would be retroactive to 2022. As per the New York Times, Canada's 3 per cent digital services tax has been in place since last year, but the first payments are only due beginning on Monday. Since the tax is retroactive in nature, American companies were preparing to turn over roughly USD 2.7 billion to the Canadian government, the NYT noted, citing a trade group for large tech companies. (ANI)
Canada News.Net
2 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
Daily World Briefing, June 28
Trump continues pushing Fed chair to lower interest rates U.S. President Donald Trump has continued to lob personal insults and attacks at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a bid to get the central bank to lower interest rates. Frustrated with the Fed's wait-and-see attitude toward lowering interest rates, Trump has ramped up attacks against Powell in recent weeks. Earlier this week during a NATO summit in the Netherlands, Trump hurled his latest oratory grenade at the Fed chief, who the president nominated for the position eight years ago. "I think he's terrible," Trump told reporters during a press conference, referring to Powell. The president called Powell a "very average mentally person," and said the Fed chief has "a low IQ for what he does." "I think he is a very stupid person, actually," Trump said. Canadian PM says negotiations with U.S. "complex" Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday called the negotiations with the United States "complex" when he responded to the announcement of U.S. President Donald Trump to terminate all trade talks with Canada with potential new tariffs. "We'll continue to conduct these complex negotiations in the best interest of Canadians," Carney said to local media. "It's a negotiation." Trump announced Friday that the United States would terminate all trade talks with Canada due to Canada's digital services tax on U.S. tech companies. Canada's digital services tax on American technology companies is a direct and blatant attack on the United States, said Trump in a post on social media. Set to take effect on June 30, the digital services tax would have U.S. companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb pay a three percent levy on revenue from Canadian users. Canada and the United States have been in negotiations to get Trump to lift the tariffs on Canadian goods, which have already led to major economic shrinking. U.S. Supreme Court limits injunctions against Trump's birthright citizenship order The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that district judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions against the Trump administration's executive order to effectively end birthright citizenship. In a 6-3 vote along ideological line, Supreme Court justices granted a request by the Trump administration to narrow the scope of nationwide injunctions imposed by district judges. "Federal courts do not exercise general oversight of the Executive Branch," Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the majority, noting that "When a court concludes that the executive branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too." However, the three liberal justices issued dissents to the decision. "Children born in the United States and subject to its laws are United States citizens," Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, adding "that has been the legal rule since the founding." Iran's FM says IAEA chief's insistence on visiting bombed nuclear sites "meaningless" Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Friday the insistence of the United Nations nuclear watchdog's chief on visiting Iran's bombed nuclear sites is "meaningless." He made the remarks in a post on social media platform X while accusing Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi of facilitating the adoption of a resolution by the agency's Board of Governors against Tehran and the bombings of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States and Israel. "Grossi's insistence on visiting the bombed sites under the pretext of safeguards is meaningless and possibly even malign in intent. Iran reserves the right to take any steps in defense of its interests, its people, and its sovereignty," he said. He pointed to a recent plan approved by the Iranian parliament, and later passed into law by the country's Constitutional Council, which called for a halt in Iran's collaboration with the IAEA, adding, "This is a direct result of Grossi's regrettable role in obfuscating the fact that the agency had -- a full decade ago -- already closed all past issues (with Iran)." Grossi on Friday highlighted the necessity for IAEA inspectors to continue their verification activities in Iran, "as required under the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement," according to a statement published on the agency's website. Russia, Ukraine agree to hold 3rd round of talks after prisoner exchange: Putin Russia and Ukraine have agreed to hold the third round of negotiations after completing their war prisoner exchange, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday after the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Minsk. Russia and Ukraine agreed to hold the third-round of talks after the completion of the exchange of prisoners of war and the transfer of bodies of dead militants, negotiated in Istanbul on June 2, Putin told reporters. Russia is ready for new round of negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul, the president said, noting that the time and place of the third-round talks need to be agreed on. The draft memoranda between Russia and Ukraine on the settlement should become the subject of discussion during the third round of negotiations, Putin said.
Canada News.Net
2 hours ago
- Canada News.Net
US President Donald Trump terminates trade talks with Canada
Washington DC [US], June 28 (ANI): US President Donald Trump announced on Friday (US local time) that the United States will be terminating all discussions on trade with Canada, effective immediately. In a post on Truth Social, Trump called Canada a 'very difficult' country to trade with. He pointed out that the Digital Services Tax announced by the Canadian government is a blatant attack on America and its businesses. 'We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400 per cent Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country. They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us,' US President said. The Government of Canada has introduced the digital services tax (DST). The DST requires foreign and domestic large businesses to pay tax on certain revenue earned from engaging with online users in Canada if they meet certain conditions, as per a statement issued by the Canadian Revenue Agency. Trump further said that Canada will be informed about the tariffs they will have to pay to do business with the US within the next seven days. 'Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven-day period. Thank you for your attention to this matter!' he wrote. According to CNN, DST allows countries to collect revenue from large companies that operate online, even if their business is unprofitable. Citing a report published by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, CNN noted that American firms, particularly big tech companies like Meta, Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft, are disproportionately affected by DSTs. CNN reported that the US President had taken up the issue of DSTs in the trade negotiations with other countries and had referred to them as 'non-tariff trade barriers.' It further reported that Canada has a new DST, which is set to come into effect from Monday and would be retroactive to 2022. As per the New York Times, Canada's 3 per cent digital services tax has been in place since last year, but the first payments are only due beginning on Monday. Since the tax is retroactive in nature, American companies were preparing to turn over roughly USD 2.7 billion to the Canadian government, the NYT noted, citing a trade group for large tech companies. (ANI)
