As the name suggests, Daniel Sax started the Canadian Space Mining Corporation in 2020 to build a leading space mining company in Canada.
“You have to have a stable, credible business long before mining in space comes into relevance.”
Given that space mining for now remains in the realm of science fiction, the company’s focus quickly became “dual-use” technology. In this case, dual-use refers to technology that can be practically applied in both space and on Earth, as well as by civilians and the military. Sax told BetaKit that metallurgy, sensors, and even healthcare were all in the cards until the startup found its place developing nuclear power solutions.
This year, the company’s mini nuclear reactor helped it secure government contracts and acceptance into NATO’s defence tech accelerator, Sax said in an interview on Monday. But, he added, the Canadian Space Mining Corporation’s name carried expectations it could not fulfill.
“You have to have a stable, credible business long before mining in space comes into relevance,” Sax said.
That’s why today, the Canadian Space Mining Corporation has rebranded to the Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC), reflecting a broader mandate.
“Quite frankly … everywhere I go, I have to explain to people why this isn’t space mining,” Sax said, adding that the rebrand is about “crystalizing” its years-long focus on critical and strategic technologies.
“You would sit there in meetings with [people] for an hour, and even though you were talking about terrestrial technology, they would go back to space mining,” Sax recounted. “That’s the part that stuck.”
Alongside the rebrand, CSMC has incorporated two fully owned subsidiaries: one to work on its nuclear solutions, and another for research and development of its “legacy” resource-focused work, like sensors.
CSMC Nuclear is leading the development of its LEUNR micro-reactor, based on the Canadian-made SLOWPOKE-2, which the company licensed last year. Sax claimed the company has built a fully functioning, non-fuelled prototype in its new lab in Waterloo. He hopes the company can secure a demonstration site for LEUNR, then scale it from prototype to a fuelled demonstrator model by the end of the decade.
RELATED: The Canadian Space Mining Corporation thinks it can put a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2029
LEUNR is the basis for contracts CSMC secured with the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Space Agency, and its acceptance into the NATO DIANA accelerator this year. The reactor is intended to replace diesel generators in remote Arctic communities, but it has another purpose: to eventually power infrastructure on the moon.
Last year, inspired by the Artemis mission to return astronauts to the moon, Sax committed to having LEUNR ready to be deployed on the moon by 2029, earning CSMC a spot in BetaKit’s Most Ambitious. Sax told BetaKit that CSMC is still working toward the moon shot, but that it’s a “function of the state.” The United States (US), which is leading the international Artemis mission through NASA, recently updated the requirements and accelerated the timeline for placing a nuclear reactor on Earth’s largest satellite.
“A lot’s changed with what’s gone on in the US, vis-à-vis nuclear on the moon, in the last six months,” Sax said. “We’re staying abreast of that and ensuring that we are offering something that is complementary to what the US is doing.”
The rebrand to the Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation comes as defence becomes a priority for the federal government, and Canadian companies angle for a corresponding funding boost. In June, Prime Minister Mark Carney promised NATO that Canada would spend five percent of its GDP on defence by 2035, later allocating over $80 billion to defence in budget 2025.
Sax said whether CSMC ends up doing space mining in the future is not relevant today; rather, it’s the company’s ability to bring strategic and critical technologies to market that can solve Canada’s defence and resource problems.
“If we are to build F-35 bases, new ports in the Arctic, sensor networks in the North, all of that requires power, and it needs it fast,” Sax said. “We think we can deliver fleets of reactors in the early 2030s to the Arctic to meet Canada’s Northern sovereignty needs, and that’s really [the] core focus.”
Sax said CSMC is preparing for a tech demonstration, a new Toronto business office, and “rapid expansion” in 2026, hopefully supported by an external fundraising round in the new year. While the acronym stayed the same, Sax sees the name change as a sign that CSMC is maturing from a startup.
“I still reserve the right to make space mining jokes and memes, though, along the way,” Sax said.
Feature image courtesy CSMC.