MDA Ltd. is a Canadian space technology company headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, that provides geointelligence, robotics and space operations, and satellite systems.[1]
History
MDA (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates) was founded in 1969 by John S. MacDonald and Vern Dettwiler in the basement of MacDonald's Vancouver home.[2] The company became a subsidiary of Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) from the United States on 17 November 1995.[3]
MDA was primary contractor for, and took ownership of, the RADARSAT-2 Earth observation satellite.[4]
In the 2000s, MDA experienced difficulties winning government contracts in the United States due to its foreign ownership. In 2008, an attempt to sell the space division to Alliant Techsystems was blocked by the Canadian government on national security grounds. The subsequent lack of Canadian business led to layoffs. The real estate information business was sold in early 2011. MDA bought Space Systems/Loral from Loral Space & Communications in 2012.,[9] leading to OTPP reducing its stake to less than 10%.[8]
On 8 April 2020, Toronto-based investment firm Northern Private Capital bought the MDA assets from Maxar[12] for CA$1 billion (US$765 million).[13][14][15] and named the new company MDA; the company is headquartered in Canada.[12]
On 9 December 2020, The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) awarded MDA a contract to develop and construct the Canadarm3 as part of Canada's contribution to the NASA-led Lunar Gateway Program. The contract is for the first phase of the program and is worth C$22.8 million, with options for follow-on phases.[16] The contract was further confirmed on December 16, 2020, when NASA and the CSA announced the finalised agreement to collaborate on the Gateway, which included the Canadarm3, the installation of two scientific instruments and commitment to provide two crew positions for Canadian astronauts.[17]
On 7 April 2021, MDA became a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange trading under the symbol MDA.[18]
On 16 August 2023, Telesat Canada announced it had chosen MDA to build 198 small satellites for the Telesat Lightspeed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) program. The project will take advantage of MDA’s digital beamforming array antennas and integrated regenerative processor. The Lightspeed satellite is slightly smaller than those previously being considered. Antenna design and manufacturing will be in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec.[19][20]
On March 7, 2024, MDA announced it had rebranded to MDA Space. [21]
Wills, Jocelyn. Tug of War: Surveillance Capitalism, Military Contracting, and the Rise of the Security State (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2017), scholarly history of MDA. online book review
