Grants and Contributions

Project activities include: (1) training traditional indigenous midwives on updated maternal and child health practices; (2) facilitating discussions to promote inter-culturally effective health care and transparency between health authorities and community leadership; (3) conducting learning exchanges among maternal and child health leaders and providers in Guatemala and Canada, and (4) training of traditional midwives and auxiliary nurses in family planning methods and provision of family-planning counseling to both women and men.

The Youth Employment Strategy is the Government of Canada's commitment to help young people, particularly those facing barriers to employment, get the information and gain the skills, work experience and abilities they need to make a successful transition to the workplace.

This project entitled « , Prototype Development of the Limb Imaging FTS Experiment (LIFE) for a Stratospheric Balloon » will encompass the end-to-end design and stratospheric balloon test flight of a prototype satellite instrument. The Limb Imaging FTS Experiment (LIFE)
will take detailed measurements of greenhouse gases in a region of the upper atmosphere that is a key link in the Earth's climate system and important for our ability to estimate and predict air quality. Several high qualified personnel will be trained in space science and engineering through the design, development, calibration, balloon flight and analysis of the measurements.

This project entitled « CALASET: Canadian Atmospheric Laser Absorption Spectrometer Experiment Test-bed » the Canadian Atmospheric Laser Absorption Spectroscopy Experiment Test-bed (CALASET), is a project that will train future Earth and space scientists. These students and trainees will design, build and test an innovative instrument for studying how trace gas concentrations in the atmosphere change with height. The students plan to launch their instrument on a stratospheric balloon from Timmins, Ontario.

CALASET will contribute to the development of Canadian space science and technology by developing a new capacity for validation of satellite limb observations and by implementing a platform to test innovative atmospheric measurement technologies. It also contributes by developing a test platform where the team can take innovative atmospheric measurement technologies generated at ALLSAS and transfer this technology for use in future satellite and space science missions.

This project entitled « Using simulated microgravity to understand bone loss & develop countermeasures in space » studies on long duration space missions have shown that, due to weightlessness, astronauts may lose as much as twenty percent of their bone mass, which leads to a significant increase in risk of fractures and other complications. After studying two of the major bone cells in space, this project will now use simulated microgravity to analyze osteocytes, the major mechanical sensing cells in bone. This project involves developing in vitro assays within a simulated microgravity platform to understand the influence of weight on osteocyte form and function.
The studies of bone in a simulated microgravity environment (Synthecon) will also allow a controlled, detailed analysis of the osteoporotic disease process in astronauts.

The project long-term objectives are ; to publish the Bone Drop technology for broad implementation by researchers studying diverse cell types, identify candidate genes affected by simulated microgravity in osteocytes to be commercialized for therapeutic interventions and distribute a sound, accessible fitness program to improve the lives of Canadians. Normally, astronauts are difficult to study in space due to numerous countermeasures being applied simultaneously. Thus, there is a pressing need to utilize controlled, reproducible, simulated microgravity platforms for developing novel countermeasures and assessing their effectiveness in preventing bone loss.

This project entitled «Demonstration of Technologies for Quantum Communications Space Networks» the objective is to demonstrate technologies for quantum communications space networks, advancing TRL and training HQP for technologies relevant to QEYSSat (Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite). This project aims to examine the sensitivity of single photon detectors to radiation. The development of strategies to mitigate detector noise induced by the space radiation environment will have broad impact both to existing optical sensing applications and to the nascent quantum communications industry.
A main focus of the project will be the mitigation of radiation damage to avalanche photodiode (APD) and the key objective of this task is to develop the optical and electronic components of a laser-annealing apparatus suitable for operation on a spacecraft. Testing is targeted to be conducted in low-Earth orbit as part of the USIP-Illinois cubesat mission.

This project entitled «Prototyping of a compact hyperspectral imager» consists of designing and building a prototype of a small, simple hyperspectral imager providing a fine spatial resolution and offering a cost effective solution for satellite constellations. ABB Inc. will also make laboratory measurements of the prototype performance to confirm the hyperspectral imager design approach and validate the suitability and maturity of the underlying technologies.

This project entitled « Cosmology from the Stratosphere: Gravitational waves and Gravitational lensing with Spider and SuperBIT » aims to develop and fly the Spider and SuperBIT telescopes. Spider will search for gravitational waves from moments after the Big Bang, providing a unique view of the early Universe. SuperBIT, by providing large images of distant galaxies with detail comparable to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, will help to probe the distribution of dark matter through distortions in space caused by gravity.
Although the capabilities of current conventional balloon platforms provide some of the benefits of space- based observations, the unique combination of sub-arc second stability for long exposure and wide-field observations over nearly one hundred nights would represent a fundamentally new capability, and for astrophysics at optical wavelengths in general. SuperBIT will usher in an era of low-cost, frequent access to space-like observing conditions that will benefit a wide range of astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology objectives.

This project entitled « , AVATARS: Arctic Validation And Training for Atmospheric Research in Space » will use the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) at Eureka, Nunavut as a “space station on the ground”, enhancing its instruments and contributing to the validation of data from current and upcoming space missions. The project will include the development of techniques for remote operation and automation of instruments, improved data analysis, and the use of PEARL atmospheric measurements to validate global satellite data products.
This project will be contributing to the development of hardware and software for atmospheric remote sounding and new and improved retrieval strategies for trace gases, aerosols, and clouds. It will also enable participation in new validation efforts associated with OCO-2 and TROPOMI and possibly with future missions such as China's carbon dioxide observation satellite TanSat.

This project entitled « CubeSat Electrodynamic Tether Deorbit Experiment (CETDE) » fosters the development of a critical mass of researchers and HQP in Canadian Space Sector by conducting a CubeSat Electrodynamic Tether Deorbit Experiment.
The experiment involves two CubeSats linked by a 400m bare tape electrodynamic tether (EDT), to be launched from the International Space Station. It will demonstrate the propellant less EDT propulsion technology, the feasibility of deorbiting end-of-mission/dysfunctionnal satellites and space debris by EDT and new ideas in conducting science experiments using Tethered CubeSats.