Canada to aid moon, Mars efforts

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 federal 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 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) next Mars orbiter mission.

Four “priority technologies” are described in Wednesday’s letter. .

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.