This article traces Canada’s early interest in space, before turning to its late 1960s decision to focus on a domestic, commercial/civilian communications satellite system in geostationary orbit and the subsequent decline in Canada’s military space efforts. It then highlights the wake-up call of the 1991 Gulf War, which demonstrated the critical importance of military communications satellites to future operations, and the steps Canada has taken to gain assured access to such satellites in the decades since. The final section outlines recent advances in low Earth orbit satellite communications (LEO satcom) and the ways in which these systems can address shortfalls in their geostationary cousins. Drawing reference to a new international security environment, it concludes that Canada should move expeditiously to incorporate LEO satcom into efforts to address the growing imperative of military satellite communications in the Canadian Arctic.

本文追溯了加拿大早期对太空的兴趣，然后转向其在1960年代后期决定专注于对地静止轨道上的家用，商业/民用通信卫星系统的决定，以及随后加拿大在军事太空工作上的失败。然后突出显示了1991年海湾战争的警钟，它表明了军事通信卫星对未来作战的至关重要性，以及加拿大数十年来采取的确保获得此类卫星访问权的步骤。最后一部分概述了低地球轨道卫星通信（LEO satcom）的最新进展，以及这些系统解决对地静止表亲不足的方法。参考新的国际安全环境，