Neptec president Iain Christie says the prototypes developed with the millions of additional dollars that flowed through the Canadian Space Agency in recent years will be shelved unless the government renews its support for the project.
"It certainly will mean that we aren't able to continue our rover development project beyond what we will reach with current funding," he says.
"We basically built the prototypes, but we don't have plans in place to do any testing or development of instruments, or even working to find potential flight opportunities for the rovers with other space agencies. So it's all left hanging unless there's some plan."
Neptec is one of several local space firms concerned that the end of the federal stimulus program - and lack of a long-term government vision for the industry - will lead to a downturn in the sector.
Even those that didn't directly receive stimulus funding fear the dropoff in federal spending will lead to fewer government sales and the loss of a valuable reference customer that's seen as key to landing business abroad.
In Neptec's case, the company received $11 million in 2009 for a Lunar Exploration Light Rover, dubbed Artemis, which must be finished by March 31. Previously, Neptec had developed another rover in conjunction with the CSA, known as Juno.
The 85-employee firm is about 15 per cent larger than last year, partly on the strength of rover hires, although job descriptions aren't neatly tied to any one program.
Mr. Christie acknowledges the end of funding won't have an immediate negative impact on his business. Things will slow down, and the projects will cease, but he doesn't anticipate letting anyone go.
Other companies say the heightened profile of the CSA temporarily boosted the fortunes of other firms competing for overseas business.
Now, with stimulus funding drying up March 31 and CSA spending falling, companies worry the lack of domestic spending will translate into fewer foreign customers.
"About 80 per cent of the total global market for satellites belongs to government," says Ron Holdway, the Ottawa-based senior director of Com Dev's Canadian business development and government relations. "To have credibility in that market, you need to have your own government investing in it."
His Cambridge, Ont.-based company, which is developing naval technology to automatically identify and monitor ships from space, did not receive stimulus money.
But Com Dev does get about 10 per cent of its business from the government-run space agency - a small percentage, to be sure, but a crucial one as that investment convinces its other customers to buy equipment.
"(It) is an interesting dynamic that goes on in the global space market that I'm not sure is well understood at a policy level in Canada," he says.
For years, critics worried that CSA's budget, which remained around $310 million for the better part of the decade, was not enough to compete with similarly sized space powers.
That temporarily improved in 2009, when the agency received an additional $110 million to spend between then and March 31, 2012.
Most of the money went to rovers and in-orbit servicing, with some other contracts including more than $17 million to MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates for rover prototypes and $1.9 million to MPB Communications for a micro-rover platform.
As a result of the stimulus funding, CSA's budget reached $424.6 million this year, but that's expected to fall once the funding expires in 2012. By 2013-14, the agency will have an estimated $317.5 million to spend.
Emerging space players such as China and Brazil are already pouring more resources into space programs. Japan has its own robotics program, competing with the arms and other equipment for which Canada has been famous.
"We are lagging behind the developing world," Mr. Christie says.
