Ex-astronaut still shooting for Mars

Going to red planet would generate ‘a huge amount of enthusiasm,’ he says

The first time Marc Garneau said Canada should launch its own Mars mission, he was a civil servant. Now he’s pushing the mission as a politician.

The Liberal leadership candidate told the Citizen’s editorial board Wednesday that Canada should “distinguish itself at some point in the future by building a vehicle to send to Mars.”

Canada has joined in Mars missions, but only by designing instruments (and future rovers) for probes built by NASA and Japan.

Now Garneau wants a Canadian-led mission.

“I believe that is something that would have tremendous benefit in terms of not only showcasing Canada, but also it’s something that would generate a huge amount of enthusiasm in the country.”

The former astronaut and president of the Canadian Space Agency says aeronautics is a field that nurtures a knowledge-based economy.

He wants to send an unmanned probe either to study Mars from orbit or to land on the Red Planet — missions that can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s what he asked for in 2002, when he was the space agency president.

“Obviously, you work with other countries if they want to contribute and have an instrument on it, that kind of thing. But (it) would be led by Canada.

“Canada is the third country in space,” since our Alouette satellite was launched in 1962, he argued.

“We created a lot of the technologies that are used on communications satellites today. A company called COM

‘Obviously, you work with other countries if they want to contribute and have an instrument on it, that kind of thing. But (it) would be led by Canada.’

MARC GARNEAU Former astronaut and Liberal leadership hopeful

DEV in Cambridge — their components are on just about every communications satellite in the world.” RADARSAT is a leader too, he said.

He said government delays in approving the construction phase of three new RADARSAT satellites show “they don’t get it. So MDA, the company that’s building it, had to lay off some people. Those people go. They’re in demand, they’re very specialized people. They go to the United States.

“They (Conservatives) don’t understand that in an innovation economy, you can’t afford to lose valuable people.

“If we don’t continue to champion this area where we are good, then we will slip, and our competitors will take over.”

Garneau also criticized the Conservatives for cutting spending on space and not having a long-term plan.

The federal government cut the Canadian Space Agency’s budget this year by 10 per cent across the board.

With cuts, he said, the agency will lose people and ability.

As well, agency president Steve MacLean put a draft Long-Term Space Plan in front of cabinet in 2009, but the Conservatives haven’t published a final plan.

“In the space business, you have to have five- and 10-year horizons. You can’t just say, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do next year.’ If you’re going to build a new spacecraft or new technology, it takes years to do it. I don’t think the government understands that.”