Grants and Contributions

The implementation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) on small satellites is an emerging area of interest in the international space community, as it would allow reducing the cost of future SAR missions. In order to achieve SAR implementation on this type of platform, there is a need to adapt the technology.

This project aims to analyze and design Attitude Control System (ACS) for SAR implementation on small satellites (CubeSats). In particular, tools will be developed to optimize ACS design for CubeSat-based SAR missions, and to analyze their performance. The development of Canadian expertise in this area will allow maintaining Canada's position as a leader in the field of SAR satellites.

Often populated, coastal areas are very particularly sensitive to environmental changes. Accurate mapping of coastal zones is crucial for scientific advancement, resource management, security and defense operations. However, Canada's coastline mapping remains relatively incomplete due to its vast extent and difficult access to several shallow zones. Advances in satellite technologies, especially hyperspectral remote sensing, can help fill this gap.

The WaterSat Imaging Spectrometer Experiment (WISE)-Man project aims to test the WISE hyperspectral camera while building solid Canadian expertise and skills regarding the processing and analysis of this type of data that may soon be available on operational Earth observation missions via satellite.

This grant is to provide support to the science team responsible for an investigation to be made about exoplanets to be observed as part of a Guaranteed Time Observation (GTO) program allocated to Canada during the JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) mission.

Understanding the evolution of Mars will give us new insight into the habitability of planets and global climate change. It is critical that we characterize its water ice reservoirs to understand its hydrologic system and how it has changed over time. This has profound implications for the search of life on Mars and for future human explorers who will require an accessible source of water to sustain long-term operations.

The IMAP project aims to enhance our understanding of glacial and periglacial processes on Mars through the investigation of terrestrial analogues in the Canadian High Arctic. It will help develop an unprecedented and potentially profound understanding of the water ice reservoirs on Mars and how they have changed over time.

The coastal oceans of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska are highly dynamic and support regional food webs that are vital to the local economy. Changes in this coastal dynamic may have negatively contributed to the observed decline in the return of various salmon populations. Continuous data with sufficient spatiotemporal resolution is fundamental to the understanding of this problematic.

This project aims to develop a multi-satellite-based framework to provide information at the needed scales to assist ecosystem-based fisheries management. The data collected from the satellite will be combined with in situ observations. This will provide critical insights of the coastal ocean's dynamic and its drivers. The project will then translate this work into accessible knowledge and products for use by government, industry, and others.

This project will investigate the best ways to preserve samples returned from future missions. The team will develop and refine advanced methods for astromaterials curation, which is the preservation of the intrinsic properties of samples through the use of materials, tools, and enclosures. This project will help extend Canada's leadership in cold curation.

This project aims advance the detection and characterization of extrasolar planets and their atmospheres by observing and studying the host stars and brown dwarfs that are most amenable to discovering potentially habitable planets. The results of the project will leverage Canada's contribution to the James Webb Space Telescope by furnishing some of the best targets for the study of exoplanetary habitability.

This project aims to develop and optimize a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extraction platform in the laboratory to be incorporated with the prototype MICRO life detection platform with several low mass, compact, low cost and low energy instruments. The proposed extraction platform could be robotized and integrated into future planetary exploration space missions.

The objective of this project is to design, build and make the first engineering flight of the GigaBIT telescope, a diffraction-limited 1.3 m visible/near-UV wide field imaging telescope. This project also aims to fly and analyze data from GigaBIT's predecessor, the SuperBIT balloon borne telescope. These telescopes, by providing large images of distant galaxies, will help to probe the distribution of dark matter through distortions in space caused by gravity. It will advance the technology of optical and near-UV telescopes and pointing systems, and advance our understanding of cluster physics, in addition to providing Canada with the most sensitive near-UV/visible imaging telescope in the world.

Radioprotectors are needed to protect astronauts from detrimental effects of space radiation. Melanin is known to protect fungi and other organisms from high doses of ionizing radiation. Thus, melanin-based radioprotectors could help solve the problem of radioprotection in space.

This project will investigate the protective anti-carcinogenesis effects of melanin-containing black mushrooms when ingested, study its effect on preventing colon cancer, and evaluate the radioprotective effects on melanin-containing materials on the central nervous system. This research could also have benefits on Earth, since radioprotectors are also needed for protection of cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy.