Grants and Contributions

This project aims to enhance the communication capabilities of CubeSats—small, cost-effective satellites that are transforming space exploration, communications, and defense. While CubeSats provide affordable access to space, their future potential is limited by constrained data transmission capacity, which hampers their ability to support advanced missions. To address this, the project will develop a compact, high-performance, and cost efficient optical amplifier system to enable high-speed laser communication. With an innovative optical design, this solution will optimize size, weight, and power (SWaP), reduce costs, support large-scale manufacturing, and improve readiness for space deployment. The ultimate goal is to deliver a fully qualified optical amplifier that meets the needs of next-generation CubeSat constellations and missions. This technology will support key applications such as Earth observation, scientific research in space, remote connectivity, and defense, while also strengthening Canada’s leadership and sovereignty in advanced technology and space communications.

Rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking (RPOD) are necessary for all inter-spacecraft interactions in space. This includes in-space services such as crew & cargo transportation to the International Space Station, refueling or repairing satellites, reusable logistics, space debris removal, and beyond. Legacy RPOD systems are large, consume large amounts of power, and are extremely expensive. Obruta’s modern solution, called the RPOD Kit, is designed for modern satellites and provides virtually any spacecraft with RPOD capabilities to simplify the process of satellite servicing while making spaceflight safer. While Obruta’s autonomous flight software has been developed and tested in space, the accompanying hardware sensor components and overall system must be tested. This project focuses on the testing and validation of Obruta’s RPOD Kit to prepare it for an inaugural spaceflight mission and to reestablish Canada as a world leader in RPOD technology.

This project aims to develop the DeCAF-RRT, a wide-area monitoring tool using satellite Earth observation (SEO), to support salmon habitat monitoring. Effective monitoring promotes healthy ecosystems, sustainable biodiversity, and stable salmon populations for food and economic security.

This project aims to integrate SEO data into spatially explicit bird abundance models to enhance biodiversity conservation and land-use planning in Canada.

NorthStar will advance the critical capability to identify hundreds of thousands of unknown space objects by processing millions of space-based optical observations per day. Achieving this to commercial standards requires innovative adaptations of Initial Orbit Determination algorithms and massively parallel data processing pipeline methods configured in novel architectures. This project will adapt new Big Data methods to process unknown objects with a system that will scale appropriately as the NorthStar constellation expands, while still meeting latency and security requirements.

This project will develop a robust human cell culture-based pipeline for engineering innate radiation protection mechanisms. As opposed to traditional models which lack biological relevance, this proposal leverages the use of hPSCs and derived cells thereof, constituting both a sensitive and relevant approach. The project will identify potential gene therapy targets that can confer radioprotective phenotypes by effectively reducing oxidative stress, DNA damage, and cell death responses whilst deepening our understanding of their underlying mechanisms. This approach could significantly advance efforts to protect human health in the challenging environment of space. The data generated herein is a potentially invaluable resource for the Canadian Space Agency and others for prediction of radiation resistance factors in living systems. Finally, this project will engineer gene therapy delivery vectors to demonstrate effective radiation protection in target cell culture models relevant for spaceflight environments.

This study aims to promote performance, health, and well-being among astronauts aboard the ISS. To this end, the Principal Investigator (PI) team will explore the complex interplay of stress, coping strategies, meaningful work, and self-transcending emotions (e.g., gratitude, compassion, awe). By employing both pre- and post-mission questionnaires and a novel adaptation of a "daily diary" method, the PI team aims to collect prospective, concurrent, and retrospective data over the course of a long-term mission.
When considering what predicts performance, health, and well-being, the PI team focuses on two related, but distinct processes.
- The first involves successfully navigating negative experiences. Specifically, the PI team will explore how astronauts aboard the ISS cope with daily stressors.
- The second involves successfully capitalizing on positive experiences. Specifically, the PI team will explore how astronauts aboard the ISS experience self-transcendent emotions, build meaning, and grow from their daily work.

Scalium™ is an innovative, ultra-resistant aluminum-scandium alloy, originally developed by Ferreol Technologies for the alpine skiing industry. With exceptional mechanical properties, Scalium™ currently outperforms typical aluminum alloys used across various industrial sectors. Initially produced in thin sheets, the alloy has now attracted major interest in the aerospace sector, where it could significantly reduce the weight of spacecraft components. This weight reduction would in turn lower operational costs, decrease the carbon footprint of space launches, and increase the capacity to integrate additional high-value equipment.

The present project aims to adapt Scalium™ into thick plates suited to aerospace industrial requirements. Following successful preliminary laboratory tests, the goal is to develop the large-scale manufacturing process, characterize its performance, and demonstrate its feasibility to specialized companies. One concrete application would target the next generation of Canadian satellites.

With the announcement by the Canadian Government in 2023 that it is moving forward to enable space launches from Canadian soil, Canada is poised to expand its capabilities into launch and large-scale rocket propulsion. Enabling this will require expertise in the most complex, challenging aspect of rocket propulsion: the turbopump. The “heart” of any high performance rocket engine, these powerful pumps represent a capability that has never before been demonstrated in Canada. With a network of partners and industry professionals, a team of experienced volunteers, and supplemented by top students from across Canada, this project will demonstrate the first turbopump in Canada, sized for Launch Canada’s proven 1000 lb thrust rocket engine. Leveraging advanced manufacturing methods and cutting-edge software tools, it will also be the smallest turbopump in the world, extending the performance benefits of turbopumps to new applications such as lunar transport or space tugs, while training highly qualified personnel throughout the supply chain.

The objective of this AO is to support Canadian students to participate in national and international space conferences and training events that will offer them the opportunity to learn about and be involved in the latest developments in space science and technology, to develop their professional network, and in some cases, present their research results at the national and international level.