Grants and Contributions

Not a Project (Mandated or Core Funding)

Not a Project (Mandated or Core Funding)

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are energetic radio flashes that emanate from extragalactic sources of unknown origin. This project will use AstroSat and several sensitive ground-based radio telescopes (GBT, Effelsberg, and CHIME) to conduct simultaneous X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and radio observations of FRB 20200120E, the closest known extragalactic repeating FRB, during a radio outburst. AstroSat will be used to search for multiwavelength emission from the source. The results from this study will provide new insights into the enigmatic FRB phenomenon and enhance Canada's reputation in space astronomy.

Following the JWST Cycle 2 GO Announcement of Opportunity published on July 6, 2023, the CSA is providing funding via a Grant Agreement to the university to conduct their research using the JWST data.

The project will use spectroscopic time-series monitoring to investigate the condensate clouds of the isolated exoplanet analog SIMP J0136+09. Observing one full rotation each with NIRSPec and MIRI instruments will provide data for the most detailed phase-resolved atmospheric investigation of any extrasolar atmosphere to date. The results of this program will provide crucial insight on the importance of time-varying atmospheric processes for brown dwarfs, isolated planetary-mass objects and bona fide directly imaged exoplanets.

Following the JWST ERS and Cycle 2 GO Announcement of Opportunity published on July 6, 2023, the CSA is providing funding via a Grant Agreement to the university to conduct their research using the JWST data.

This project will use NIRSpec to conduct phase curve spectroscopy to study the atmospheric structure of Neptune-size exoplanet LTT 9779b. NIRSpec will measure the planet’s global thermal and molecular structure, alongside measuring its cloud properties at all longitudes. This project aims to provide a definitive benchmark for hot-Neptune’s against which to compare the next generation of small exoplanet atmospheric circulation models.

Overshooting deep convection is an extreme weather condition that is affected by but also feeds back to climate change. Its complex nature makes it difficult to represent it in global climate models and to observe it with satellites. We propose to integrate satellite measurements with high-resolution numerical modeling to improve the characterization of the cloud, humidity, temperature (including that inside clouds) and radiation fields associated with overshooting convection. The research will help improve Canada’s capacity for climate and weather prediction and strengthen its leadership role in Satellite Earth Observation.

When internal loads from surface winds and ocean current reach critical threshold in shear, compression or tension, sea ice floes slide relative to another along fracture planes where large amounts of heat, moiture and salt are exchanged between the ocean and atmosphere. We propose to use the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images from the Canadian RADARSAT Constellation Mission to create a new high-resolution (1 km) sea ice deformation dataset with full Arctic coverage and higher temporal resolution when compared with existing RADARSAT-1-derived products. This new data set will be used to develop a new granular-physics sea ice model.

Following the JWST ERS and Cycle 2 GO Announcement of Opportunity published on July 6, 2023, the CSA is providing funding via a Grant Agreement to the university to conduct their research using the JWST data.

This project will study accretion onto the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center, Sagittarius A, using MIRI MRS IFU time-series spectral monitoring of Sgr A and its surrounding region. Along with simultaneous Chandra observations, this data will be used to characterize the black hole’s MIR and X-ray emission in different flux density states, determine the nature of the emission, and constrain models of the accretion and radiation processes.

This project will use high-altitude ballooning to develop technology that will find application in deep space propulsion within the solar system and beyond. The propulsion concept uses a free source of energy: the solar wind. While the solar wind is tenuous, it can be interacted with using magnetic fields to transfer thrust to a spacecraft. This proposal will develop the key hardware components required to demonstrate the Plasma Magnet: devices capable of deploying and controlling large loops of superconducting cable measuring meters in diameter from a small, CubeSat-sized spacecraft.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, energetic flashes of radio waves emitted by unknown astrophysical objects located outside of our galaxy. The origins of these enigmatic transients remain one of the greatest mysteries in modern astrophysics. To further understand this phenomenon, AstroSat will observe a nearby repeating FRB source, located in an extragalactic globular cluster, across optical to X-ray wavelengths, utilizing AstroSat’s LAXPC, CZTI, SXT, and UVIT instruments. The team will perform simultaneous, high time resolution observations with sensitive radio telescopes, including CHIME, Effelsberg, and the GBT, to search for multiwavelength emission coinciding with FRB activity. AstroSat’s hard X-ray detectors will enable the search for X-ray emission from the FRB source with unprecedented sensitivity and perform critical tests of FRB models that will shed light on the origins of this source.