Canada’s space program hampered by U.S. laws
The Kingston Whig Standard
Canada’s space program has lots of ideas and commercial potential, but one of the big things holding it back is the lack of a Canadian launch program, the Canadian Space Summit was told over the weekend.
Also, both the military and civilian space research programs in Canada are hobbled by the fact that the country needs to rely on rockets launched by India, China or Russia, over which the U. S. holds wide-ranging veto powers.
The summit was held to forge links among, and accelerate the progress of, research and commercial use of space by Canadians. However, laws signed in the United States by former president Bill Clinton have put incredibly tight controls on other countries’ space programs.
Those laws essentially give the U. S. not only veto power over launches of equipment that contain American components or research — which is a vast amount of any technology designed for space — but the ability to fine or imprison anyone who breaks those laws.
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