Aerospace day in North Bay.

• Position: TRANSPORTATION

North Bay's Jack Garland Airport was a beehive of activity in late November as the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) dropped in for a visit and a European satellite company made a major announcement.

Nipissing-Timiskaming MP Jay Aspin and CSA officials together with Canadore College administration and its partners, S3, a Swiss satellite company toured the airport's aerospace assets prior to a forum involving local companies.

Aspin was recently named chair of a new parliamentary space caucus geared to pursuing new business opportunities and to map out strategy in this growing sector.

"The commercial space industry is a booming sector," said Aspin in the Nov. 26 news release. "In Canada, the sector contributes over $3.4 billion to the economy and employs well over 8,000 people in high-paying and very high-skilled jobs. With the strategic partnership of Canadore College and Swiss Space Systems this year, our region became a part of this new economic engine.

"The opportunity for expanding our local space sector in North Bay is important so we need to act on it."

Earlier this year S3 and Ca-nadore inked a strategic partnership agreement to test the company's new technology that launches small satellites into orbit using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems.

The college has attracted $2 million in federal funding for its new Advanced Composites...