The Canadian Space Agency has asked space robotics firm MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. to come up with a plan to put two satellites in space over the North to improve communications and weather observation in the region.

MDA announced Thursday it was awarded a $4.3-million contract to develop the concept for the Polar Communications and Weather (PCW) mission. The mission is to launch two satellites in an elliptical orbit around Northern regions to assist in Canadians operations in the north, including those dealing with protecting Canadian sovereignty.

"The PCW mission addresses the Canadian government needs in the Arctic and strengthens Canada's sovereignty in the North," MDA vice-president Steve Oldham said in a statement.

The concept phase is just the first step in a process that could eventually see the satellites in orbit. If the concept is approved, the CSA would then have the option of awarding a contract for the design of the satellites, followed by another contract to build and service them.

The contract marks the first new project the CSA and MDA have embarked upon since MDA, frustrated at a lack of work in Canada, attempted to sell its space robotics and satellite business to U.S. defence contractor Alliant Techsystems Inc. in 2008.

Sale blocked

The proposed $1.3-billion sale sparked national outrage over the loss of taxpayer-funded technology, especially the satellite Radarsat-2, which is designed to protect Canada's sovereignty and also provides Arctic imagery.

Jim Prentice, the industry minister at the time, blocked the sale in April 2008 after determining the deal was not "of net benefit to Canada."

In November, the CSA awarded MDA a design contract for a series of satellites dubbed Radarsat Constellation, but that project had reached the concept phase before the controversy over the proposed sale. The agency and the company have also renewed work relating to the International Space Station.

Oldham said last November MDA wanted to continue to work in the area of space exploration — where the company gained a reputation building robotics such as the space shuttle's Canadarm and the space station's Canadarm 2 — but that the company needed contracts from the government to stay in the business.

The space agency has been slow to award new contracts, in part because new president Steve MacLean is in the process of putting together a national space policy, which should provide the agency and government with direction when considering future projects.

High Arctic project on hold

The news about the PCW contract also comes the same week the CBC learned that the federal government has paused a four-year pilot project to test High Arctic surveillance technology at the entrance to the Northwest Passage.

As part of the Northern Watch program, scientists from Defence Research and Development Canada began installing underwater listening devices and land-based sensors on Devon Island in summer 2008.

A National Defence spokesperson said the Northern Watch program is taking a hiatus this summer as researchers want to evaluate data the devices have collected already.

Canada gets some Arctic surveillance data from MDA's RadarSat 2 satellite, said Michael Byers, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia.

But Byers said ground-based technologies are needed to back up information from the satellites, adding that Northern Watch gave Canada a chance to develop its own ground-based technology for the Arctic.