Elizabeth Howell: September 2010 Archives

With more than a half-dozen posters available for delegates to view, Gordon Zhou - a young researcher at the University of British Columbia's department of civil engineering - said in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) is the one theme that unites the posters he wrote with Austin Mardon, at the Antarctic Institute of Canada.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has spent the past three years putting "considerable emphasis" on lunar exploration technologies, according to the paper Advanced technology Development for Space Exploration at the Canadian Space Agency being presented at the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group this week.

The concept of mining on the moon is "embryonic", notes Dale Boucher, a researcher from the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT), but with the right economic argument there will be companies interested in getting involved. Boucher co-authored the paper Assessing the Resource Potential of the Moon: The Case for a Decadal-Scale Robotic Lunar Exploration Program presented at this weeks Lunar Exploration Analysis Group meeting.

The main success of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) is allowing Canada to keep an eye out on what other countries are doing and to develop programs in parallel, according to the Canadian Space Agency's (CSA) Victoria Hipkin. The program scientist for planetary exploration is a co-author on a paper explaining ISECG's importance; it will be presented at the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) meetings that begins today.

Call it an orbiting Edward Scissorhands. Although Dextre's first major robotic work on the International Space Station this month was delayed due to a snagged truss, both the Canadian Space Agency and NASA anticipate it will replace spacewalkers for minor outside tasks during and after the station's construction.

Launched in 2008 aboard STS-123, the Canadian robotic hand - built by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates in Brampton, Ont. - was initially designed for astronauts to operate from inside the station.