November 2009 Archives

Canadian Space Agency Flight Engineer Robert Thirsk, Expedition 21 Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko and European Space Agency Flight Engineer Frank De Winne undocked their Soyuz spacecraft from the station at 10:56 p.m. EST Monday and landed in Kazakhstan at 2:15 a.m. Tuesday, 1:15 p.m. local Kazakhstan time. The Soyuz spacecraft landed upright which helped the search and recovery teams extract the astronauts.

Six months aboard the International Space Station has flown by at orbital speed. If asked to do so, I could remain aboard the Station and continue to perform well. But I feel a fatigue setting in that even weekends and a good night's sleep cannot relieve. It is now time to return home.

This week in space for Canada is all about trial balloons released from the Canadian Forces (CF) and a variety of civilian experts regarding Canadian capabilities to monitor, protect and defend our arctic sovereignty at the recently concluded Canadian Space Summit, held this past weekend at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario.

Next Tuesday Robert Thirsk will return to Earth on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft ending his six month stay on the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 21. In his last week in space he will be very busy with ongoing experiments but will no doubt have time to reflect on the past six months and among those thoughts will be the realization that this is most likely his last time in space.

Space journalist Elizabeth Howell was among the 100 attendees at the first NASA launch tweetup at the Kennedy Space Center, Nov. 16, 2009.

With a golden flash, space shuttle Atlantis punched through the first cloud hanging between the pad and her destination in Earth orbit.

This week in space for Canada is all about building the next generation of space leaders, allowing them the chance to meet interesting people and providing the potential for learning, incentives and prizes. First off, it's important to note that the 2009 Canadian Space Summit begins this Friday, November 20th and continues on until Sunday afternoon, November 22nd at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario.

NASA's space shuttle Atlantis lifted-off today at 2:28 p.m. ET on an 11-day mission to service the the International Space Station (ISS). On-board the shuttle is the Canadian APEX-Cambium (Advanced Plant EXperiments on Orbit) experiment. The experiment will help determine the role gravity plays in trees forming different kinds of wood.

It would seem Guy Laliberté really got good value for the $35 million he spent on his flight in October to the International Space Station. According to Influence Communication of Montreal who were authorized by Laliberté to assess the value of the media coverage, the total advertising value of Laliberté's media coverage between June 4 and October 14, 2009 was CAN$592 million.

NASA today announced that they have confirmed the presence of water on the moon by its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). The LCROSS spacecraft and its companion rocket stage made twin impacts in the Cabeus crater Oct. 9 that created a plume of material from the bottom of a crater that has not seen sunlight in billions of years. This is good news for the Canadian Space Agency who are investing in technology to explore the moon on future missions.

Earlier today Federal Minister of Industry Tony Clement today announced that the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has awarded 26 research and development contracts to 15 companies worth a total of $8 million for the CSA Space Technologies Development Program. Details of those contracts have now been released. Two companies received the majority of the funding with MPB Communications Inc. of Pointe-Claire, Quebec receiving five contracts worth $1,599,995.00 and MDA of Brampton, Ontario and
Richmond, British Columbia receiving three contracts worth $1,3 million.

Federal Minister of Industry Tony Clement today announced that the Canadian Space Agency has awarded 26 research and development contracts to 15 companies worth a total of $8 million.

Orbiting the Earth on the International Space Station, Canadian astronaut Robert shares his thoughts this Remembrance Day.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) released it's 2008 State of the Canadian Space Sector report today which was prepared by its Policy and External Relations Directorate. According to the report the Canadian space sector employed 6,742 people in 2008 with increasing revenues to $2.79 billion which is a 17.8% increase over the previous year.

This week in Montreal the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) Space Exploration Advisory Committee (SEAC) is holding one of its periodic meetings and you could have attended the open session except for the fact that no one knew about the meeting other than the CSA and SEAC members. Why is that?

This week in space for Canada is all about the amazing money making opportunities available to Canadian firms focused on space activities. As well, we'll spend a little time looking at a few recent reports indicating ongoing double digit growth for space focused businesses all over the world.

Is this a great country or what?

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) announced today that they had secured a $46 million contract from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to develop next generation technologies and prototypes for future space exploration missions which could include Lunar and Martian orbital missions. As well, MDA will develop technologies for servicing spacecraft in Earth orbit. The contract also includes options for an additional $4 million of prototypes.

The University of Saskatchewan Space Design Team (USST) arrived early this week at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center as one of the favorites to win up to $2 million in prize money at the NASA sponsored Centennial Power Beaming Challenge. Unfortunately for the student team, technical issues throughout the week resulted in a disappointing outcome.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is pleased to announce that it will host a Workshop on Earth Surface-Atmosphere Interactions and Processes in Climate and Air Quality from 1 to 3 December 2009, at the John H. Chapman Space Centre in St-Hubert, Quebec. The workshop has several objectives:

GeoCanada 2010 is a once-in-a-decade opportunity for anyone who works with the Earth. Whether your focus is petroleum, base and precious metals, groundwater, geophysics, bedrock and seabed mapping, geohazards, uranium or environmental remediation, GeoCanada 2010 will present the latest developments across a complete spectrum of Earth Science professions. It is the ultimate opportunity to gain insight into your profession and the Earth, sharing experiences and knowledge with your peers from across Canada.

NOTE: There is a special session of interest to the space community:

Geoscientific Instrumentation in Extreme Environments: Earth, Ocean, Space

Geoscientists have always been involved in the exploration of new frontiers and extreme environments, whether these are located in polar regions, beneath the oceans or on other planetary bodies. This session proposes to focus on field operations, geophysical instruments, novel technologies, robotics, real-time remote observations, data processing, and other themes related to geoscientific surveying in extreme environments - Earth, Ocean and Space - that are generating revolutionary changes in understanding key terrestrial, oceanic, and planetary processes and hazards. The goal of the session is to promote new collaborations and networking amongst scientists, engineers, and policy-makers in these diverse fields of research, and search for common ground. We invite papers on innovative projects that are yielding new insights into extreme environments and complex Earth and Space systems, e.g. polar science (IPY), surveys of oceanic and lithospheric crust (IODP), oceans (VENUS and NEPTUNE Canada), lower atmosphere (UVS Canada) and upper atmosphere/space (Canadian Space Program).

Essential Facts

Dates: May 10-14, 2010
Venue: Calgary, AB, Canada
Web Site: http://www.geocanada2010.ca

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has released, through the public tendering service MERX, a request for proposals (RFP) to plan and execute Analogue Missions. Analogue Missions are simulations of space mission operations that take place at analogue sites on Earth; these can also be thought of as Integrated field tests. Sites that are presently used for analogue missions include Devon Island in Nunavut, Pavilion Lake in British Columbia and Axel Heiberg on Elsemere Island in Nunavut.

All in all, Canada is a pretty good place to be if you're going to conduct basic research and this week in space for Canada is all about basic research as we report on and react to the discussions occurring at the 2009 Canadian Science Policy Conference.

The European Space Agency launched a pair of satellites early Sunday evening on a Russian Rockot launcher from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia that feature technology demonstrations from three Canadian Companies.

The two satellites launched were the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and PRoject for OnBoard Autonomy (Proba-2). The Proba-2 satellite is part of ESA's in‑orbit technology demonstration programme which are missions dedicated to the demonstration of innovative technologies.