Canso Academy gets closer to space

Our Founder, President and CEO, Stephen Matier was a special guest in Canso classrooms at Fanning Education Centre (Canso Academy) in June. He visited grades five, six, and seven to show them progress on the site, walk through the designs and launch process, talk about the potential of Canada’s space industry including the great careers available, and answer many, many keen questions.

After such a disrupted couple of years for kids and for all of us, it was really great to be back at the school,” says Matier. “Students are so enthusiastic about space, and rural students especially. Many of them have Starlink in their homes. They know it’s satellites that make broadband possible—especially in smaller or more remote places where infrastructure for high-speed connectivity is a challenge. To know they’ll be launching satellites right in their neighbourhood is an exciting prospect.

The kids were fascinated by the monumental task of building the spaceport and asked what kinds of professions would be available there. Matier called on them to consider all the occupations and areas of study who contribute to Canada’s first spaceport: from physicists and biofuels engineers to electricians, project managers, and construction specialists. With such enthusiasm in the classroom, it’s clear – the future is very bright. 

The most energetic question was no surprise: Can we watch a launch!? When??