Grants and Contributions

The recent reduction in launch costs has opened up potential for cost-efficient, high-performance, rapidly-deployable low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations. StarSpec Technologies specializes in high-precision high-accuracy Attitude Determination and Control Systems which are critical to the advancement of scientific, commercial, and military applications in space. StarSpec is directly addressing burgeoning demands in this sector through its InspireSAT Constellations On-Demand Initiative. This technology and related industrial capabilities will enable rapidly-deployable, high-precision and high-accuracy 12U to SmallSatclass constellations uniquely suitable for next-generation sustainable applications in high-resolution Earth-imaging/Synthetic Aperture RADAR (SAR), Space Situational Awareness (SSA)/ Space Domain Awareness (SDA), military surveillance, and research.
This project will enable rapid commercial access to LEO while fostering growth through training of a critical mass of highly qualified personnel (HQP), thereby increasing Canadian space technologies prevalence and market share. StarSpec has received significant interest in this technology from Universities to collaborate on their projects, and is continuing to gain solid traction from the commercial sector.

GHGSat’s current satellites are equipped with a wide-angle Fabry-Pérot (WAF-P) imaging spectrometer that measures the vertical column abundances of anthropogenic methane. The purpose of the project is the on-orbit demonstration of a next generation grating spectrometer.

The objective being sought is to achieve a major improvement in the methane detection threshold compared to the WAF-P spectrometer. The proposed demonstration contributes to Canada’s National Strategy for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Applicants with a design for a remote healthcare technology concept were invited to apply to the Challenge. After competing in Stage 2 of the Challenge as a semi-finalist, and Stage 3 of the Challenge as a finalist, the recipient was selected as the grand prize winner for a $500,000 cash prize.

The main objectives of the project include expanding the range of gases for creating nanobubbles, standardizing methods for their characterization, and testing their resilience in conditions simulating space. The goal is to investigate plant growth in microgravity conditions that tests these systems in terrestrial environments within a simulated space environment. The expected outcomes include advancements in scientific knowledge and technological development in space health and life science, training opportunities for a minimum of 5 students, and benefits to Canadian populations.

CANGrow is a novel modular polyculture indoor food production system that will enable long term space exploration. The CANGrow system incorporates novel technologies in order to offer the widest possible variety of foods with optimal yield. It grows a diversity of biologically efficient food products: strawberries, cherry tomatoes, two root vegetables, microgreens, four unique culinary herbs, mini-head lettuce, an algae superfood, and a mycelial meat substitute - “space bacon”. The technology has the potential to provide over 500kg of nutrient dense food annually.

The Artemis III Geology Team Grant was awarded to Western University, whose scientist Dr. Gordon Osinski was selected to be part of the geology team through a NASA-led competitive process that was open to international scientists. The objective of this grant is to support the selected scientist and allow them to take part in the scientific team that will support the Artemis III mission planning and operations. This will include planning the scientific tasks of the astronauts as they walk on the Moon, ensuring that the mission achieves its scientific objectives, and the analysis of the returned lunar materials.

In March 2023, a neutron star (a dense stellar corpse) brightened by a factor of 10,000 in the X-rays, as it consumed material torn from a small companion star. This neutron star is located in the globular cluster Terzan 5, a cluster of about a million old stars that is rich in neutron stars. AstroSat observed the X-rays from this neutron star with its three X-ray instruments. We will study the AstroSat data, along with data from other X-ray instruments, to search for pulsations at the neutron star spin period; to look for evidence of gas blocking our view of the neutron star; and to study light reflected from the material falling onto the neutron star. We hope to infer the spin of the neutron star, the orbital period of the neutron star and its companion star, and how the infalling material falls onto the neutron star. This study can help us understand the physics of neutron stars, and of how they suck mass from companion stars and consume it.

This project will map out the ultraviolet colors of several nearby galaxies that are actively forming stars. AstroSat is observing the starlight of young, massive stars. As these short-lived stars die, the color of the galaxy changes, with the light becoming dominated by long-wavelength ultraviolet light. But there is a complication: dust in galaxies also makes the light appear redder. The new high-resolution data will be used to untangle the effects of aging from dust. This research is important because it is a local calibration needed to understand how to interpret the colors from different telescopes of the most distant galaxies.

Accretion onto black holes is the source of some of the most energetic photons observed in the Universe. The innermost region of the black hole accretion disk radiates mostly in X-rays for both stellar and supermassive mass black holes. This project will capitalize Canada’s participation in ASTROSAT by using the unparalleled simultaneous broadband X-ray data to probe the debated inner accretion dynamics of black holes across the mass range. The investigation lines up with one of Canada’s Long Range Plan main science themes (“What are the extreme conditions of the Universe?”) and with the Canadian priorities in High-Energy Astrophysics.

This project will support the reduction, calibration, and analysis of imaging data of several nearby giant galaxies from the UVIT instrument aboard the AstroSat space telescope. These data will be analyzed to study the properties of the giant galaxies and their related satellite systems including dwarf galaxies and globular cluster systems. These galaxies are selected to cover a range of local galactic densities so that star formation rates and histories can be studied in the context of local galactic environments. The results will complement related ground-based observations to provide a truly unique and valuable science opportunity.