‘Deep space habitat’ tech sought by Canada
OTTAWA • To paraphrase David Bowie, they’re going to float a tin can far above the moon.
The Canadian government is looking at technologies that could contribute to a “deep space habitat” orbiting the moon and, eventually, a human mission to Mars, according to a letter of interest posted Wednesday on a procurement website.
The document, which is supposed to inform Canada’s space-tech sector about the government’s priorities, says the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is looking to work with International Space Station partners on new initiatives that will test human resilience in space.
In its federal budget tabled last week, the Liberal government committed $80.9 million in new money, over five years, to the CSA to “underscore Canada’s commitment to innovation and leadership in space.”
That includes money for “Mars surface observation,” the budget document says, which will help Canada join NASA’s next Mars orbiter mission.
Four “priority technologies” are described in Wednesday’s letter. The letter itself doesn’t constitute a formal commitment by the government, but a request for proposals is anticipated in early May, with timelines of 12 to 18 months for each project.
The tech is being developed for potential use on and around the moon — or, as the document puts it, “a space platform, deep-space habitat, in a lunar orbit or elsewhere in cislunar space that will extend human presence and further demonstrate and prove technologies and operations at a larger distance from Earth.”
An article published by NASA Tuesday says the moon mission will have astronauts testing systems that could be used for “deep space destinations including Mars,” and testing rovers, which will act as vehicles and temporary “habitats” on the lunar surface. The idea is to put an infrastructure in place that will last for decades, including crewing a “deep space gateway” in the moon’s orbit.
The specific technologies Canada wants to develop include: a robotics interface that can improve the flexibility and versatility of robotic tools (think Canadarm) in space; software that will help engineers and operators in space more easily use hardware (such as rovers, robotic arms and satellites); a prototype system, described as a “locomotion, power and thermal management concept” that will help two types of lunar rovers operate; and a design for the wheels that will go on the rovers.
Astronauts will be able to go back and forth from the “habitat” orbiting the moon to the surface, where they’ll be able to camp out inside the rovers and conduct tests. A crew of four, the document says, should be able to spend up to 42 days travelling around the lunar surface this way.