{"id":23635,"date":"2025-12-12T14:56:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T14:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/?post_type=rbc_tl&#038;p=23635\/the-three-forces-redefining-how-the-world-works"},"modified":"2025-12-12T14:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T14:56:07","slug":"space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest","status":"publish","type":"rbc_tl","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-block  pos-rel\" style=\"border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-inner-block  section-inner\" style=\"border-radius:0x\">\n<p>I sat down with former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison while he was in Toronto this week, to talk about that country\u2019s bold bets on the space sector and what Canada can learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morrison helped launch Australia\u2019s space sector into a higher orbit, and is now active in the global sector, especially in the U.S. Here\u2019s some of what he shared with me, as well as a group of Canadian space leaders and investors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-rbc-list is-style-black-disc\">\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest,\u201d echoing the 1950s\u201370s space race. Pretty much every aspect of intelligence and national security now has a space connection.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>Canada should see space as a way into the world\u2019s most important military and security alliances. AUKUS (Australia-UK-US) is one of those groups, as is the Quad (US, Australia, India and Japan) and the Five Eyes intelligence network of the US, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>AUKUS is worth watching as it shifts attention from submarines and undersea dominance to orbital dominance. Space may be Canada\u2019s opportunity to join an AUKUS2.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>While NATO has been slow on space, that will shift. The Ukraine war \u2014 and the role of satellites and drones \u2014 shows where future battlefields lie.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>The sector is projected to grow ~9% annually, heavily driven by semiconductors, satellites and global AI demand.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>Combined, AI and space will be the defining mega-trends of the next 50 year, shaping global security, economics, and national capabilities.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>A dedicated national space agency, with senior oversight from government, is essential for the sector\u2019s growth, providing critical mass, coordination, and legitimacy.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>Large private-sector players are essential, too, but public capital and international partnerships are required.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>Launch leads to legitimacy. If a country can\u2019t launch its own assets into orbit \u2014 right now, Canada can\u2019t \u2014 it won\u2019t be a leader. Australia is aiming to build the only near-equatorial launch site among the Five Eyes, making it more indispensable to intelligence partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>Don\u2019t stop at launch. \u201cThe sexy stuff is rockets,\u201d but real industry growth depends on infrastructure, logistics, testing, science support and service capacity.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>Others are on the move.\u00a0Japan is aggressively scaling its space ambitions, targeting 30 launches per year and leveraging tight state\u2013industry coordination. New Zealand has Rocket Lab and a politically energized space agenda.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what Morrison says Canada needs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-rbc-list is-style-black-disc\">\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>A credible national space strategy with funding behind it.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>A capability others need.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>A willingness to invest politically and financially at the scale the US and Australia are committing.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>A concrete capability that strengthens our alliances, including \u00a0space domain awareness, Arctic surveillance, satellite manufacturing, launch capacity, AI-enabled sensing and cyber integration.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-rbc-list-item\">\n<p>A security-focused rationale, aligned with allied threat assessments \u2014 particularly those related to China.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the day, this is a security initiative, not an industry development initiative. At home, governments will speak about employment and economic benefits. But in Washington, Canberra, London, Tokyo, or Wellington, the argument must be strictly: <strong>\u2018<\/strong>Here is the capability Canada brings to collective security.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-block  pos-rel mar-t mob-mar-t mar-b mob-mar-b has-rbc-bright-blue-tint-1-background-color has-background\" style=\"border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-rbc-section-inner-block  section-inner pad-t mob-pad-t mob-pad-b pad-b\" style=\"border-radius:0x\">\n<p class=\"mob-mar-b-0 mar-b-0 has-white-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e684bdf7066138b81270a2043e371d0e\"><strong>John Stackhouse<\/strong> is Senior Vice President, Office of the CEO, at RBC, and a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy at the University of Toronto.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scott Morrison, Australia\u2019s former prime minister, on his country\u2019s bold space bets \u2013 and what Canada needs to do <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":23636,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"disable_focal_point":false,"featured_image_focal_point":{"x":0.3,"y":0.67},"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"rbc_tl_category":[215],"rbc_tl_tag":[],"class_list":["post-23635","rbc_tl","type-rbc_tl","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","rbc_tl_category-space"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scott Morrison, Australia\u2019s former prime minister, on his country\u2019s bold space bets \u2013 and what Canada needs to do\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scott Morrison, Australia\u2019s former prime minister, on his country\u2019s bold space bets \u2013 and what Canada needs to do\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-12T14:56:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Branded-1200x627-1.jpg?quality=80\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1306\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/\",\"name\":\"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-12T14:56:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-12T14:56:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"Scott Morrison, Australia\u2019s former prime minister, on his country\u2019s bold space bets \u2013 and what Canada needs to do\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80\",\"width\":7250,\"height\":3500,\"caption\":\"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"RBC\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d -","description":"Scott Morrison, Australia\u2019s former prime minister, on his country\u2019s bold space bets \u2013 and what Canada needs to do","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d","og_description":"Scott Morrison, Australia\u2019s former prime minister, on his country\u2019s bold space bets \u2013 and what Canada needs to do","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/","og_site_name":"RBC","article_modified_time":"2025-12-12T14:56:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2500,"height":1306,"url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Branded-1200x627-1.jpg?quality=80","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/","name":"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d -","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80","datePublished":"2025-12-12T14:56:06+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-12T14:56:07+00:00","description":"Scott Morrison, Australia\u2019s former prime minister, on his country\u2019s bold space bets \u2013 and what Canada needs to do","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80","width":7250,"height":3500,"caption":"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/","name":"RBC","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Space is \u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\u201d","url":"http:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80&w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80"},"articleSection":"Uncategorized","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"lavanyakaleeswaran"}],"creator":["lavanyakaleeswaran"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"RBC","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2025-12-12T14:56:06Z","datePublished":"2025-12-12T14:56:06Z","dateModified":"2025-12-12T14:56:07Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Space is \\u201conce again becoming a geopolitical contest\\u201d\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rbc.com\\\/en\\\/thought-leadership\\\/space\\\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rbc.com\\\/en\\\/thought-leadership\\\/space\\\/space-is-once-again-becoming-a-geopolitical-contest\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rbc.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80&w=150&h=150&crop=1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rbc.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80\"},\"articleSection\":\"Uncategorized\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"lavanyakaleeswaran\"}],\"creator\":[\"lavanyakaleeswaran\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"RBC\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2025-12-12T14:56:06Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-12T14:56:06Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-12T14:56:07Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/rbc.com\/p.js"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/12\/Space-Blog-Stackhouse-and-Morrison-Image_Banner-wide.jpg?quality=80&w=1024","coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/author\/lavanyakaleeswaran\/","display_name":"lavanyakaleeswaran"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 months ago","modified":"Updated 4 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on December 12, 2025","modified":"Updated on December 12, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on December 12, 2025 2:56 pm","modified":"Updated on December 12, 2025 2:56 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","tax_additional":{"rbc_tl_category":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/thought-leadership\/space\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Space<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Space<\/span>"],"slug":"rbc_tl_category","name":"Categories"},"rbc_tl_tag":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"rbc_tl_tag","name":"Tags"}},"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl\/23635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rbc_tl"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl\/23635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23648,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl\/23635\/revisions\/23648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"rbc_tl_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl_category?post=23635"},{"taxonomy":"rbc_tl_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rbc_tl_tag?post=23635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}