Canada has appointed Alexander MacDonald, the first chief economist at NASA, as president of the Canadian Space Agency. The agency says he will join on 16 November.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly announced the appointment in Ottawa on Wednesday. MacDonald succeeds Lisa Campbell, who led the agency from 2020. Senior vice-president Jean-Claude Piedboeuf has been acting president during the transition.
The appointment places a space policy and economics specialist at the head of Canada’s civil space agency as the country considers its future contribution to lunar exploration and works on a new space strategy. It does not, in itself, announce a new strategy or change existing programmes.
Experience in space policy
MacDonald worked at NASA for about 17 years, leaving in December 2024. As its first chief economist, he helped establish the agency’s Moon to Mars strategy and the Artemis programme. His previous positions included senior economic adviser in the administrator’s office and founding programme executive of the Emerging Space Office.
He studied economics at Queen’s University and the University of British Columbia before completing a doctorate at the University of Oxford on the long-term economic history of American space exploration. He received NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal in 2024.
Canada’s government said the appointment followed an open, competency-based selection process. Joly welcomed MacDonald’s leadership experience and knowledge of space policy and economics, and thanked Campbell and Piedboeuf for their work during the leadership change.
The Canadian Space Agency was established in 1989 and manages the country’s civil space activities. Its remit spans exploration and astronaut missions, satellite observation of Earth, and the development of space science and technology. The presidency therefore covers more than human flights to the Moon: decisions about scientific research, spacecraft and data are also part of the agency’s work.
A changing lunar programme
MacDonald is set to join as international plans for lunar exploration are changing. In March, NASA said it intended to pause the Gateway lunar-orbiting station in its current form and shift its focus towards infrastructure for sustained operations on the Moon’s surface.
Canada had planned to contribute Canadarm3, a robotic system designed to help maintain and repair the Gateway and support other tasks around the station. The Canadian agency has since announced its intention to repurpose Canadarm3 investments to support the next phase of lunar exploration.
Before his appointment, MacDonald argued that Canada should move quickly towards lunar surface robotics. Speaking at a space-sector conference in May, he recommended redirecting remaining Canadarm3 funds where possible and seeking two or three opportunities to test Canadian robots on commercial lunar landers in 2027 and 2028.
Those were recommendations made before he was named president, not an announcement that the government had adopted his proposals or booked the flights. The agency’s stated intention to repurpose investment does not establish that it will follow each element of his suggested approach.
Canada is also developing a concept for a lunar utility rover. The agency says it could assist with tasks such as moving supplies, scouting for resources and supporting astronauts on the surface. It describes the mission as being in concept development, with a launch in the 2030s, rather than as a completed vehicle.
NASA’s broader Moon base plan includes the Canadian rover as a possible contribution to a later phase of sustained lunar operations. Those operations remain plans, and the agency has described several stages of work before a permanent base could be established.
Canadian participation
Canada already has a role in Artemis. In April, astronaut Jeremy Hansen travelled around the Moon with three American crewmates aboard Orion on Artemis II. The flight tested the spacecraft with a crew; it was a lunar flyby, not a landing.
Hansen has separately been appointed a special adviser on space to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Joly. The minister has said he will help with work on a new space strategy. That advisory appointment is distinct from MacDonald’s job leading the agency.
MacDonald’s appointment is the confirmed leadership decision. The details of a new Canadian space strategy, and how existing lunar investments will be adapted, remain matters for future decisions.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration.
