Retired Canadian Space Expert Lands At Vic High

By King Lee, VHS 1958

The former head of Canada’s space agency landed in a Victoria High School classroom recently. Dr. David Kendall, who retired as Director General of the Canadian Space Agency in 2015, accepted an invitation to speak to Jon Geehan’s Astronomy 11 class. The appearance was arranged through Keith McCallion, former Vic High principal and current Alumni volunteer. “It’s up to you,” he said after cracking the ice by asking where students thought outer space started. He acknowledged space has no known end, and that various ‘levels’ above the earth each include different craft and structures put there by man.

He said “space tourists” now go about 102 kilometers above the earth and that American Elon Musk is putting up satellites that are cutting down the brief delays when TV news anchors and guests in other countries interact. David said that right now, there are approximately 11,000 space satellites and Musk plans to put up 5,000 more. Musk currently has the only technology in the world that allows rocket boosters to be recovered, then refueled and re-used to launch more satellites. It cuts costs down significantly and is why he can put so many satellites into space at his own expense. In addition, two Chinese groups hope to put up 10,000 each. “It’s going to be a mess up there,” said David, “and right now there are no rules governing what goes on.”

Students in the class, ranging from Grade 10 – 12, were intrigued, and asked very smart questions, said David. One question, though, he deferred to Physics teacher Jon Geehan, who holds a PhD in Astronomy.

Vic High is the only high school in Greater Victoria with an Astronomy program, developed by Geehan and retired Vic High Physics teacher Clayton Uyeda. Several significant donations by Stew Smith, VHS 1955, a renowned particle physicist at Princeton who regularly visits Victoria, made the program possible by funding equipment like high-powered telescopes. The recent upgrades to Vic High made it possible to create an astronomy viewing deck off the NE corner of the third floor, the only such amenity of its kind in the Victoria region, which also doubles as an outdoor classroom.

David earned his PhD degree in atmospheric physics from the University of Calgary but is uncomfortable with being addressed as doctor. During his career, he was a research scientist with the Space Division of the National Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Space Agency, which was created in 1989. He rose to the top job in the CSA before his retirement and now splits his time between Quebec and Victoria. He and his wife, Toni, have four children and nine grandchildren, six of whom live here. David said Victoria also works for him because of his involvement in the Canadian astrophysics program which  is centred here at the Canadian Astrophysical Observatory in Saanich.

If you think David has put up his feet and lounges around, you would be sadly mistaken. After retiring, he accepted an appointment as Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space based in Vienna, Austria, and served for two years, 2016 and 2017. His scientific interests include the earth’s upper atmosphere, space weather phenomena and international space policy issues.

David is a faculty member, emeritus, at the International Space University based in Strasbourg, France. He helped establish the Outer Space Institute in Vancouver and has held various positions in the International Astronomical Federation, Committee on Space Research, Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee, European Space Agency, Group on Earth Observations and Natural Sciences on Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Among his awards are the CASI 2017 C.D. Howe Award, Distinguished Alumni Award for Lifetime Achievement from the University of Calgary in 2019 and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal for significant contributions and achievement to Canada.

David told the attentive Vic High students that space station currently above the earth descends about two kilometres a month and has the capability to boost itself back up every couple of months. Otherwise it would slowly fall towards the earth, speeding up and eventually crashing to earth. He said there are about 40,000 pieces of space junk the size of a tennis ball or less floating around above the earth, and well over a million bigger than that. Currently there are no laws requiring cleanup but that the issue is starting to be addressed.

David passed a hat-like item around the classroom, asking them to guess what it might be. Their questions, and a few clues from David, finally revealed it was designed to adhere to the optically pure window in a spacecraft in order to block out light from inside the spacecraft. Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau inserted a camera lens inside the hole in the top, then tightly velcro’d the fabric band around the lens, to take photos of a reddish cloud near the spacecraft so the CSA could study it.

David said 624 people have flown into space since man first travelled to space, of which only 80, or 13 percent were women. “That’s ridiculous,” he added. “We need more women to get excited about space.”

David said that a mission to Mars would take a minimum of three years to complete.

When he and the class visited the outdoor area where the telescope was located, David was asked whether outer space would ever be used for a non-peaceful purpose. He said it would be a long answer but boiled it down to the fact that there will always be a military component to the subject. “Let’s concentrate on (the) peaceful (use),”  he said hopefully.

With David spending winters in Victoria, and thanks to Keith McCallion making the introductions, Jon Geehan and the Vic High Astronomy program look forward to more opportunities to have him share his knowledge and experiences with students.

Victoria Times Colonist staffers Jeff Bell and photographer Darren Stone were on hand to share David’s visit with TC readers, and both were fascinated with the information and stories David shared. Click here for their article.