Happy 2025! Yes, it's been awhile - last time I posted in this blog was in 2023. A lot has happened since then in the world. But it was busy time for Ascent and for me.
After the successful demonstration at the final phase of the IDEaS Pop Up City contest at the Canadian Forces Base in Suffield Alberta, Ascent Systems Technologies was awarded a government contract to deliver Autonomous Environment Monitoring & Surveillance (AEMS) module to be tested by Transport Canada.
In the meantime:
In February 2024 I participated in the Canadian Trade Mission to the Caribbean organized by Decentralized Energy Canada. I have no doubt, the region, vulnerable to hurricanes, with its thousands of islands, many of which are with no infrastructure whatsoever, would benefit tremendously by having our autonomous environment monitoring modules (AEMS) deployed on some of the islands and, ideally, having a fleet of few ready to be deployed in case of emergency to provide communication and other critical services.
In May 2024 I attended CANSEC convention organized by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI).
In September 2024 I attended Canadian Emergency Preparedness and Climate Adaptation (CEPCA) in Ottawa. I am reflecting on it today as unprecedented wildfires rage in California and think of the role our AEMS technology could play in if not preventing but at least foreseeing it coming, had it been deployed.
Finally, in December I attended WiSEE 2024 - Conference on Wireless in Space and Extreme Environments at Daytona Beach, Florida. That was a very packed event, starting with the inspiring talk by Dr. Janet Cavandi, a former astronaut, who flew three times on the Space Shuttle, then in charge of training US astronauts, then working in Blue Origin, and now a space consultant. There were a number of very interesting sessions, including the IEEE LEO workshop, and a tour to the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. And, of course, I couldn't miss the opportunity to visit the Kennedy Space Centre.
2025 is promising to be even more busy and eventful. Looking forward to the first deployment of our AEMS module at the Transport Canada site in Ontario. Stay tuned for more updates.
