Good morning, everyone. I'm Greg Conrad with the Jefferies Aerospace and Defense and Airlines Equity Research Team. Welcome to the fifth annual Jefferies Space Summit. Today, we are very lucky enough to have with us both Mike Greenley, CEO, and Guillaume Lavoie, CFO from MDA Space joining us today. Thank you guys for doing this. Maybe just to kick it off, MDA Space has evolved from a heritage Canadian space company into a broader global space infrastructure player. How would you describe the company's strategic identity today?
I think that we're seen as a solid, proven, standalone space company. The three areas that we have focused our business areas in terms of geointelligence and earth observation, in terms of space infrastructure with robotics and rovers on space stations and the lunar surface, on satellites, primarily for communications networks and low Earth orbit. These three areas are all strong, growing areas of the space economy. I think we're seen as a solid, standalone space company that are global leaders in the three areas that we conduct business.
What are the two or three biggest changes in the space market over the past five years that have maybe most influenced MDA's strategy today?
I think the first phase of growth burst that always happens in space is from commercialization. Typically things in space, it'll start with a government-related initiative historically. There'll be some commercial activity, and then when it becomes fully commercial, then things really take off with growth. That's what we saw in the space communications sector over the last number of years, where space communications started decades ago, to be able to have communications for government or militaries. Space-based communications supported broadcast, sending TV signals around, doing sports broadcasting, and television signals around the world. With this full commercialization for broadband networks, for the internet, and direct-to-device cellphone applications, that's really causing explosive growth. That's been really good for where our skill sets fit in.
In addition to the conversion from analog to digital satellites, we were a bit ahead of the digital curve, and we were able to surf that wave to some extent, in terms of the growth of commercial and the power of digital satellites. Lately, there's been an additional surge coming from sovereignty, where in the last 12 to 18 months, the geopolitical shifts in the world, whereby countries have chosen to sort of stand up a bit taller and take care of their own sovereignty, security. That's driven more demand for sovereign Earth observation, sovereign communications for countries, and that's starting to really feel that in the pipeline now, as that's now kicking in.
Just digging into some of the major satellite constellation contracts that you've secured from Telesat Lightspeed to Globalstar. How do you think about what these awards signal about your competitive position and when we think about high-volume satellite manufacturing, which has definitely been a focus of the market?
Yeah. I think from a competitive position, it's good signals for sure. If you look at the constellations that have been awarded through a competitive process over the last three or four years, which has included Globalstar, the first 17 satellites we got awarded from Globalstar, the Telesat constellation, even EchoStar, was full competitive process. That got taken away due to unforeseen circumstances, but we have won all competitive processes in full-up competitive constellations in the last four years. That's a really good signal in terms of our positioning, in terms of both our technical solution and our price. Now schedule is becoming a key factor in constellations, especially with direct-to-device, as people want to get to market over the next two to three years. They're looking for suppliers that have a strong technical solution but who can get satellites up in orbit in the 2029 timeframe.
We're able to do that. With our high-volume manufacturing now, we're able to really give good schedules in addition to excellent technology and competitive pricing. Our ability to help network operators decrease their time to revenue is becoming an important factor.
You mentioned technology, but maybe digging into that a bit around MDA AURORA, and the differentiation. I know you've done some acquisitions as of late, kind of adding to that tech deck. What is the technology behind the platform, and how does that contribute to winning on top of the production know-how?
Yeah. Do you want me to play with that, Guillaume, a bit, or do you want me to keep going? Sorry.
I think that one was for you, Mike, and I'll take the next one.
Yeah. I think the key technologies and stuff for Aurora is obviously the digital aspect of it. We've always been a world-leading antenna supplier. We've always been leading in that technology area. With the conversion to digital satellites, us developing over the years with our supplier, SatixFy, the ASIC chip that we needed to use for those digital satellites, and then in the end, us deciding to acquire SatixFy and bring the chip production in-house so that we're vertically integrated from that perspective. We've now got the ability. We build our own onboard processors, our own direct radiating arrays, and so we've got that full digital satellite solution in the marketplace. That's giving us a definite competitive edge. It also gives us full control over our roadmap and that technology base.
A lot of network operators, they want to know what the capacity of their network is going to be today. They're going to want to know where it's going to go in three years and in six years. By us controlling our tech base in the chip design level, we've got the roadmap for the chips, and therefore, the roadmap for the satellites and their processors and their antennas. That allows us to have a really robust conversation with customers around the world and definitely differentiates us from others in the competitive satellite market space.
Cool. Maybe I'll point this at Guillaume. The largest portion of your pipeline is tied to satellite systems. Can you maybe talk a bit more about the composition of that pipeline, what you're seeing in the market today, and how do you think about the right to win?
Yeah, no, that's a great question. Maybe to start with, the global space economy is booming right now, and it's a fact. Things are way different than they were just a few years ago. Just in 2025, there was more than 300 launches in the world. There's more than 10,000 satellites now in orbit. Basically today we're looking at a global space economy that's just in excess of CAD 600 billion that is forecasted to grow to CAD 1.8 billion by 2035. Clearly there's a top focus for us to win in that marketplace. If you look at our pipeline, you're right. The bulk of it, or I would say CAD 30 billion out of CAD 40 billion, is for our satellite systems business. We have CAD 7 billion that's towards our geointelligence business and also everything that relates to non-space defense. We're a very well-known defense contractor here in Canada.
We have about CAD 3 billion that's related to robotics and space operations. The mix in terms of the pipeline is also pretty good. We have a bit more than half of the CAD 40 billion that's for potential government and military contracts. We have the rest for commercial opportunities. What's very interesting is out of the CAD 40 billion, we have about 25% of that that's not 100% secure, but CAD 10 billion is for opportunities for which we have been selected or down-selected, or opportunities for follow-on business with existing customers. That CAD 40 billion pipeline, when you look at it's over the next five years, and it represents more than 25 times our 2025 revenue. There's a lot of opportunities out there for us.
Back to the right to win, I think, and I'll focus here on satellite systems, because again, that's CAD 30 billion out of the CAD 40 billion. I think Mike touched on it. We have a leading edge on technology with our fully software-defined digital satellite that has digital beamforming capabilities, and we control the chips. That's a key core advantage for us, in addition to now having almost completed a state-of-the-art facility in Canada, in Montreal, where we will be able to produce up to 400 satellites per year. That allows us to compete on schedule in the sense that we can offer very competitive schedules to our customers.
Maybe just following up, you talked about schedules, and you have a couple of large satellite programs today. What has it taught you about scaling production, supply chain management, and customer execution? Where are you in the process of ramping production, just given you talked about a 400 satellite per year target?
Yeah. We've designed the facility in Montreal to produce up to 400 satellites per year. As I mentioned, we're almost completed in the sense that the building is completed. We have a lot of test cells already. We started the manufacturing of some electronic components. The good thing is that we have that 400 capacity per year. Over 5 years, that's 2,000 satellites. We have been contracted so far by Telesat and Globalstar for a little bit more than 250 satellites. If you add options, that's like 350. We can convert our pipeline, win new orders, and then offer a competitive schedule to our customers. At the end of the day, our goal is not to produce 400 satellites every single year. Our goal is to be able to address the market and be able to serve customers for 4 to 6 constellations.
That's our goal. We are at two anchor customers right now. Again, with the pipeline, we have a bunch of other opportunities that will materialize. If we're in that position where we have four to six customers, this will be a good place to be. We will be able to grow our business significantly, because all those customers will put a first order, initiating order. They might have options like Telesat. Those satellites are designed for five to 10 years. You get quickly into a replacement cycle and potentially an expansion cycle for all of those constellations. We have the capacity, it's mostly paid for, and we're ready to continue to win more contracts and continue to grow the satellite systems business. Maybe just to touch on the supply chain, we're ramping up.
We have a complex, typical aerospace supply chain, but we monitor it, and so far, we have some areas of focus. All of our suppliers are ramping up as we are. We're managing our supply chain ramp-up, and it's going fairly well so far.
Maybe just backing up, you're also a content supplier to satellites. We've seen recent awards pointing to growing demand for your antennas, payloads, and digital satellite capabilities. How does the component side contribute to the pipeline, and where are you maybe seeing the biggest opportunities?
Yeah. If you look at the CAD 30 billion pipeline for satellite systems, the big objects are either full prime contracting jobs, where we would be the prime contractor for full satellite assemblies. We have a bunch of big opportunities for complex payload jobs. We also have a very long tail of smaller opportunities on the component side of things. It's a very good business for us. Like Mike mentioned earlier, we have an expertise in building and designing and fabricating state-of-the-art antennas. We're recognized for that around the world. If you think about it, our component business is pretty good in the sense that it's not a recurring business per se, but those are smaller contracts, and they tend to come back. We got some repeat orders recently from Airbus.
Initially, we were contracted to build 2,000 antennas for them on the OneWeb constellation. Recently, we've been awarded an additional 800 antennas. That's showing that we build complex stuff, but customers are coming back to us because we're delivering on spec and on time. We deliver to L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop, RTX, now York Space Systems. We've recently won some business with BAE Systems. It's a really good business for us. High margins. The component business is really good, and it brings a little bit of a recurring element outside of those large prime contracting jobs. A very good business for us.
Maybe just stepping back, you talked a little bit about in the pipeline, but you operate across satellite systems, robotics, and space operations, and geointelligence. How do you think about the strategic value of having all three businesses under one platform? Where are there potential synergies?
We're starting to see that now as we move forward into the future. For example, with our digital satellites, for example, that allows us to deliver our digital communication satellites. There's a range of different technology areas that the digital solutions can be applied to. Next-generation Earth observation systems, being able to use digital satellites for that causes a bit of a marriage between the satellite systems and the geointelligence side of the house. With the increasing advent of onboard processing on the satellites, that starts to move functionality that would typically be in a ground station in the geointelligence side of the house, in a ground station on Earth. You start to move that processing up into the satellite itself, so that you're having to transmit less and more useful information back to Earth. We're seeing those two worlds come together there.
In things like space control, we recently announced the MDA Midnight product at a trade show in April, about developing satellites that can protect and defend other satellites in orbit. That allows us to bring all of our high-volume manufacturing of spacecraft from satellite systems to be able to pull a spacecraft structure or a bus or a platform off the assembly line, but then fit it out with a payload system that's focused on space control. Using guidance and navigation systems and proximity operation systems and various sensors for active and passive protection, and then robotic systems, and put all those on that platform to deliver very quickly a space control platform, combining the capabilities of satellite systems and robotics to be able to give solutions to customers.
There are a number of areas in the space infrastructure market where the capabilities and technologies in satellite systems can be blended with that from robotics and space operations, such as MDA SKYMAKER. We're starting to see that as the space market matures and it gets richer, then we're able to have technology solutions that leverage the product lines that we've already invested in.
Maybe just thinking about the competitive landscape, specifically for satellite manufacturing. You mentioned faster cycle times, unit costs, and the digital payload. How has the landscape evolved in terms of who you're typically competing with, or who do you typically compete with for some of these constellations?
Yeah. Typically, historically, the competitors on constellations have been the more experienced historical satellite manufacturers. Thales, Airbus, Lockheed, Maxar. The firms that have built satellites historically are the ones that are competing for constellations.
In terms of what we've seen over the last several years. If you look at those folks, in terms of where we stand on high-volume manufacturing capacity, we're certainly ahead of the curve in that regard. We've leaned forward, invested in high-volume manufacturing, going into a really strong pipeline. Speed of delivery has now become a key element in competitions. We are now up and running in our new facility that we've just spent multiple years studying and two years constructing, and now it's being put to work. That's really added to our competitive situation. We're getting a number of calls from around the world of folks that want to have satellite capability, but they want to have it quickly.
You have a long legacy in space robotics, Canadarm, Canadarm2, 3. How does that heritage translate into future commercial and government opportunities? Maybe if you can just update us on what you're seeing with Canadarm3 today.
Yeah. With Canadarm3, it was targeted at lunar. It's Canada's contribution of world-leading space robotics to the Artemis program. The focus originally was on Gateway, the space station that would orbit the moon. That was paused, as has been announced. That project continues, though, us developing space robotics with the Canadian government. There's activities to look at pivoting those robotics to the lunar surface, to the moon. The activities on the lunar surface are going to grow and expand, and it certainly has become the focus for the members that have signed the Artemis Accords with the U.S. Canada has a full opportunity for both robotics and rovers on the lunar surface as we move forward into the future, that's really good. We use our world-leading position in robotics for both government programs and for commercial opportunities.
A couple of advantages that come from our 40 years of experience in space robotics is that we have a proven technology base, proven control systems, for example, that have been used through 100 missions on the space shuttle and 25 years on the International Space Station, and now evolving into their next generation, and starting to introduce more artificial intelligence in those control systems. So, that's a really, really strong foundation to work on. The experience base of our people to be able to develop our robotics operations procedures are essential. Our robotics and space operations team have millions of hours of experience planning and supporting robotic operations and grappling things in space with robotics. That's extremely important to customers around the world. Outside of NASA, as a government agency, we have the largest amount of robotics experience anywhere in the world.
If folks are doing critical operations with robotics in orbit, they're looking to rely on us for both the technology solution and for our experience in operating procedures and methodologies to use those robotics in orbit. As a result of that, we've invested in our new facility that we opened a couple of years ago in Toronto, Ontario. We have multiple mission control centers that we've established to be able to support robotic and rover operations in orbit and on the lunar surface, and some day, as we all head back towards Mars, there as well. We've been able to create mission control environments adjacent to these engineering and operations personnel that have these millions of hours of experience operating robotics in orbit. From both from a technology perspective and from an operations perspective, we are very much advantaged in the market.
Maybe just transitioning to geointelligence. Can you maybe talk about the customer base today, MDA's legacy in that market, and how does that contribute to where in the market you typically win?
Yeah. In geointelligence, the core anchor position is our broad area of surveillance, synthetic aperture radar capability. Today, we own and operate RADARSAT-2. It's an excellent satellite. It's in good health. It continues to operate well. We're able to deliver to a series of customers that have been with us and have been growing with us over the last 15 years. That customer base has been increasing in the last couple of years, and people's use of RADARSAT-2 has increased because of Chorus coming online or being launched, I mean, at the end of this year and coming online next year. Chorus is a two-satellite constellation with, again, another broad area of surveillance synthetic aperture radar, followed by a more zoomed-in, a narrower view, a smaller X-band synthetic aperture radar satellite.
That's going to allow us to do really, really broad area sweeps like we're known for around the world. RADARSAT-2, it can zoom out and do a 500-kilometer-wide view of the Earth's surface. Chorus will be able to get up to 700 kilometers wide, and then be able to then have the following satellite zoom in on objects that have been detected. These are very unique capabilities. There's a lot of people working on synthetic aperture radar around the world. That is growing. Everyone's in that X-band zoomed-in view. We have a unique capability with the broad area C-band, a synthetic aperture radar capability, and that serves a select group of customers around the world that want to do that kind of surveillance.
We have a good, loyal customer base to RADARSAT-2 that we expect to roll into Chorus. We have an impressive number of new parties that have expressed interest in Chorus around the world. We've recently talked publicly about having signed 41 agreements so far. 9 of those are orders or contracts to be able to deliver Chorus data services once it's operational a year from now. The others are letters of intent or memorandums of understanding to be able to express people's interest and get priority in the queue to be able to sign up to contracts for Chorus moving forward. Really robust customer base.
A lot of defense and intelligence in that customer base globally, especially a lot of folks interested in maritime activity, want to be able to do scans of their coastal zones around their country and their maritime economic zones, quickly identify potential bad actors, zoom in on them to see what they're up to, and then vector aircraft or ships to be able to intersect and deal with and mitigate risk coming from those bad actors. That's a really strong market for us. In addition to others like ice monitoring, deforestation monitoring. There's a number of other areas where our satellites are uniquely good. And we've been recognized and won awards for that capability around the world. It's a good time with a really robust conversation for MDA CHORUS as we head into the launch year, or head into finishing the launch year. Yeah.
Maybe just skipping ahead a little bit, to what extent, if anything, about MDA, you really moved up the value chain in many areas, from hardware and systems delivery into recurring data analytics. How do you think about the recurring revenue model for MDA Space? How has that changed, just thinking across the business?
I think that all the business areas, each of the three business areas, have increasing opportunity for recurring revenue. As you mentioned, geo intelligence is a naturally fully recurring revenue model, whereby we have operational satellites, and we are delivering data and analytic services to customers on a regular and repeat basis. That's a strong recurring revenue cycle. On robotics and space operations, we're now heading into a phase of life where we're going to have the opportunity to deliver more commercially. We've productized the robotics now in MDA SKYMAKER, so we can have repeat orders and repeat business for those products. I mentioned the mission control centers. We can deliver the robotics and then get into a steady recurring services revenue basis with customers to operate robotics and rovers in orbit and on the moon as we go through the next few years.
That's excellent. The same thing with space control. We can deliver space control platforms, or we can operate them in support of military operations if necessary moving forward. With satellite systems, Guillaume spoke to the repeat order nature of these constellations in terms of we get initiating orders and then repeat orders. That will be able to open up other opportunities in the future. The other thing that's coming into our future is the opportunities to invest. As space becomes more commercial, commercially owned and commercially operated in all aspects of space, launch, satellite operations, network operations, observation operations, rovers on the moon, communication networks on the moon, all of these things are becoming more commercial. That's going to come into space stations and power plants in orbit.
In all these examples, folks come to us for our technology, but they do talk to us and say, "If you want to co-invest, we're open to that." You've seen us do that with Starlab. We've taken a minor equity stake in that space station. You've seen us do that with Maritime Launch Systems. We've taken a minority equity stake in that space port to launch rockets. We have those opportunities on other pieces of space infrastructure, on communication networks around the world. We'll selectively probably add more and more of that into our portfolio, which will give each of those business areas more and more recurring services revenue opportunities as we go forward into the future. We're in a strong position there.
As a result of our status as a sort of fully functional space company with really strong financials and a strong balance sheet, we're in a position where we can selectively add strong services revenues to each of the business moving forward.
Maybe just one last one as we approach time. Thinking out three to five years, what does success look like for MDA Space? Just thinking about market position, product mix, customer base, or any other metrics that you're kind of looking at when we think out a little bit longer term.
Yeah, the biggest, if I said it in a sentence, it would just be increasingly recognized as a global space leader. From that, then you've got a few words that matter. The leader thing matters. Maintaining our leadership in Earth observation, space infrastructure, and communications is important technologically from our offering perspective. We just talked about being able to expand the business models to become more recurring as the market continues to mature. That's all part of being a leader. The global aspect is an important word in that sentence as well, the global leader in space. We're obviously very strong in Canada, where we're headquartered and have grown up.
We've got small positions in the U.S., in England, little bits in Europe, making those much stronger as we go forward and having, through mergers and acquisitions, having MDA Space subsidiaries in the U.S., in continental Europe, in other parts of the world where there's a strong demand. The sovereignty push around the world requires us to think globally, to have a global capability that can be delivered locally and then provide sovereign support and services in that extended business model. That'll be the pattern going forward through the next few years, continuing to maintain that leadership position, leverage our strong balance sheet to be able to pick up positions on infrastructure that we can have recurring revenue from, and then leverage our strong balance sheet to do mergers and acquisitions to increase our global footprint.
Cool. We'll leave it at that. Mike, Guillaume, really appreciate the time today.
Thank you. Excellent.
Thank you.
Thanks so much.