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How to best view the Perseid meteor shower
Aug. 12, 2025, is the peak night to watch the Perseid meteor shower. Astrophotographer Tim Yaworski ('The Living Sky Guy') joined CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning to talk about the Perseids and how to best watch them.
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Canada paves way for independent access to outer space
Maritime Launch Services (Cboe CA:MAXQ) signed an exclusive C$1.7 million agreement with Reaction Dynamics Lab, a Montreal-based rocket company, creating a framework for the first orbital launch of a Canada-designed rocket from Canadian soil Maritime Launch Services is a commercial space company headquartered in Nova Scotia Maritime Launch stock has added 16.6 per cent year-over-year Maritime Launch Services (Cboe CA:MAXQ) signed an exclusive C$1.7 million agreement with Reaction Dynamics Lab, a Montreal-based rocket company, creating a framework for the first orbital launch of a Canada-designed rocket from Canadian soil. This content has been prepared as part of a partnership with Maritime Launch Services Ltd., and is intended for informational purposes only. The launch is schedule to take place at Maritime's developing Spaceport Nova Scotia facility in Q3 2028 and will be underpinned by Reaction Dynamics' strategic C$1,025,952 equity investment in the company. Payments will occur in twelve quarterly instalments of C$85,496, with the first made at the time of signing at C$0.05 per share and subsequent payments continuing on September 30, 2025, to be based on the weighted average share price at the time. Following a successful initial launch, Maritime Launch and Reaction Dynamics will work towards a multi-year agreement to use a designated launchpad at Spaceport Nova Scotia. Leadership insights 'This is more than an investment or commercial launch agreement — it affirms that Canada's space launch capability is real and ready,' Stephen Matier, Maritime Launch Services' president and chief executive officer (CEO), stated in Tuesday's news release. 'With Reaction Dynamics, Canada is joining the ranks of our NATO allies and other nations that can launch their satellites to orbit, from their soil, on their terms.' 'Securing this pathfinder launch is Canada's bridge to true sovereign launch,' added Bachar Elzein, CEO of Reaction Dynamics. 'With Aurora-1 flying this winter and our Aurora-8 orbital system coming online, Canada is not only entering the launch market—it is shaping the future of rapid, distributed and allied-ready space access.' About Maritime Launch Services Maritime Launch Services is a commercial space company headquartered in Nova Scotia. The company's developing Spaceport Nova Scotia will be Canada's first commercial orbital launch complex providing reliable access to low-Earth orbit. Maritime Launch Services stock (Cboe CA:MAXQ) last traded at C$0.07. The stock has added 16.6 per cent year-over-year. Join the discussion: Find out what everybody's saying about these space companies in Canada on the Maritime Launch Services Ltd. Bullboard and check out the rest of Stockhouse's stock forums and message boards. Stockhouse does not provide investment advice or recommendations. All investment decisions should be made based on your own research and consultation with a registered investment professional. The issuer is solely responsible for the accuracy of the information contained herein. For full disclaimer information, please click here.
CBC
7 hours ago
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Satellites detected early hints of 'catastrophic' wildfire season in Manitoba, researchers say
There were multiple overlapping signs on the Prairies detectable from space that provided an early hint of the devastating wildfire season Manitoba's still fighting through, researchers say. An analysis of satellite imagery by University of Ottawa and Université Laval researchers suggests moderately low rainfall in April, a moderately early spring snow melt, moderately dry soil, moderately parched vegetation and a moderate decline in overall "greenness" of vegetation had a compounding effect that helped transformed Manitoba into a "highly flammable landscape." "All these drivers ... create such a catastrophic event in, around the area," said Hossein Bonakdari, associate professor in the department of civil engineering at the University of Ottawa. Bonakdari and his co-authors say their findings support more widespread use of of satellite imagery for wildfire forecasting and emergency preparedness planning as wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense due to climate change. Their work was published this month in the journal Earth. The researchers combined historical drought data from the Canadian Drought Monitor with a review of satellite imagery from Sentinel-2 and Landsat 8 satellites to look for precursors to wildfires. Canada has relied on the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 for several years to help monitor wildfires from space. In 2029, the Canadian Space Agency hopes to launch its own satellite, WildFireSat, so emergency officials could become less reliant on collaborators outside Canada. Bonakdari his collaborators focused on identifying preconditions for wildfires in Manitoba this year — the worst wildfire season in three decades. Researchers found low soil moisture, an earlier warm-up in the spring with less precipitation and a big drop in snow coverage. Hint hidden in leaves They also looked at foliage from above — leaf coverage both from needled coniferous and leafy deciduous trees — as well as how green vegetation was in the lead-up to the fire season. The idea is if the vegetation is browner, it's holding less moisture. Less moist vegetation means more potential fuel for fire. Their analysis found that this April, the month before fires kicked off, Manitoba's forest canopies were less lush and less green than usual. That's in contrast to a number of dry Aprils in the past couple decades — in 2008, 2018 and 2023 — that didn't result in the scale or intensity of fires seen this season, the study states. They could also see where fires that rapidly spread in the north and east of the province started on May 4 and 14 amid pockets of warm and windy days. In hindsight, the stunted leaf development and green-up looks like an early sign that vegetation was under stress, maybe due to water scarcity and warmer temperatures earlier in the year, according to the study. That hypothesis is further bolstered when you consider the fact there was nearly eight millimetres less rainfall compared to the norm this April, and 40,000 square kilometres less snow pack in Manitoba in the winter lead-up to the fires. "Such early-season dryness leads to rapid fuel desiccation, particularly in fine fuels like grasses and small shrubs, which are critical to initial fire ignition and spread," the authors state. "Reduced snow insulation, combined with dry and stressed vegetation, likely amplified the vulnerability of Manitoba's landscape."' Slightly drier conditions start adding up The research suggests you don't need a record heat wave, drought, low precipitation or low leaf coverage or greenness all together in a given year to get the fire season Manitoba is having. You might just need several years with "a little less snow, a little less rain, slightly drier vegetation, slightly less wet soil" that compounds over time to make a place like Manitoba increasingly at risk of more severe and earlier wildfire seasons, said Bonakdari. With soil moisture levels "among the most negative in the historical record" in early 2025, the only other thing you may need is a few a warmer-than-usual days and a spark — whether through lightning, a poorly snuffed out campfire or cigarette, or some other human error. That's why Bonakdari would like to see more widespread use of remote sensing tech via satellites to help identify riskier zones and potentially focus on them more closely ahead of wildfire season. "We need to do some acceleration … of early warning systems," he said. "Satellite images and AI algorithms, etc, [are] opening new windows for us to benefit from." Climatologist Alex Crawford, who wasn't part of the study, said there are limitations to which conclusions can be drawn by focusing on pre-conditions for fires. He also said we don't necessarily "need AI to tell us that it was a drier April, or that there was less snow present." Crawford, assistant professor in the University of Manitoba's environment and geography department, was encouraged by the potential predictive value of another element of the study. "One thing we don't have as good of information about from the weather stations that we have is soil moisture," he said. "If we can get that from satellites, it's ... more directly relevant to how dry the plants are than say, 'What's the temperature? What's the snowpack? What's the precipitation."
