Introduction : satellites and surveillance capitalism -- "A permanent state of 'Cold War'" : preparing the environment, 1940-1968 -- "Our knowledge is in the holes" : software consulting and the sweat-equity formula, 1968-1977 -- "Innovation in a cold climate" : remote sensing and the government contracting paradigm, 1971-1980 -- "Two things went wrong at once" : financial crises, mythical man-months, and the near-death experience, 1975-1981 -- "Unscrambling the mess" : financial restructuring, management discipline, and the military contracting formula, 1981-1987 -- "The systems vision was too hard" : investor strategies, product development, and the demise of the manufacturing vision, 1982-1988 -- "One amorphous mass" : systems integration, strategic planning, and the search for liquidity, 1988-1993 -- "This company will be sold" : MDA's public offering, Orbital's acquisition, and the dot-com bust, 1993-2001 -- "Shades of grey" : 11 September 2001, the homeland security bubble, and Canada's sovereignty imbroglio, 2001-2008 -- "A lucky escape" : the great recession, property information divestment, and the acquisition of a critical mass in satellite manufacturing, 2009-2012 -- Conclusion: "Unseen, in the background" : a view from the security state.