The space sector is more competitive now. What's wonderful is that, initially, there were only public space agencies—there were about a dozen of us—and Canada was able to make a name for itself by being one of those early agencies. Now there are viable commercial companies, which is wonderful because there is growth. However, that means it's more congested. There are more operators and more space debris. So, the need to operate responsibly is becoming increasingly important for everyone in order to preserve this precious environment.
The other thing is that we are dependent. Our modern societies depend on space infrastructure. Not a single day could go by without access to space for banking, for maps, for all our systems here on Earth. Earlier, I mentioned the Canadian company trying to create Internet resilience in space, because the current system in the ocean is becoming increasingly fragile. So this will strengthen it. However, we see that we are increasingly dependent on the invisible infrastructure in space. It is invaluable to us.
There is also space exploration. To go further, we must ensure that the environment in low Earth orbit remains peaceful and predictable. The agency has a system that constantly monitors space debris and what is happening on Earth. We share data with our partners as well as our flight plans to ensure that everything is well coordinated.