Grants and Contributions

Community Facility: The project aims to build a multi-purpose park in Remigny to foster the development of this community to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Community based facility: The purpose of the project is to build an urban park including a public market in Municipalité de la Minerve in order to foster the development of this community so it can recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Acquisition of equipment: The project aims to improve the tourist offer of the Montreal complètement cirque festival by renewing its scenography for 2022 so that it can adapt its service offer to the current context and take advantage of post-pandemic opportunities.

Marketing strategy: The project aims to commercialize the 2021, 2022 and 2023 editions of the Trois-Rivieres Grand Prix.

Community Facility: This project will improve a waterfront park in Amos to support the development of this community to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is little attention on the potential impact of spaceflight associated low gravity (microgravity) on joint health. Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease, and it primarily affects the mechanical loading bearing structures of the joint. Its negative effect on patients' quality of life is enormous. Over 10% of the Canadian population suffer from osteoarthritis, and the most common joint affected is the knee. Knee osteoarthritis is prevalent in females. The reason for the high incidence of knee osteoarthritis in females is not fully understood.

This project will explore the use of simulated microgravity to understand the basis of the prevalence of knee osteoarthritis in females. The findings of this project have the potential to discover novel drug targets for treating knee osteoarthritis to alleviate the burden of the disease in Canada and globally. Additionally, the project can potentially advance the use of simulated microgravity to study other joint disorders.

Observing and resolving the complex interactions that occur between the solar wind, the ionosphere and the neutral atmosphere are critical to understanding the role of the upper atmosphere and space weather in the sun-earth system.

The Ion-Neutral Coupling Experiment (INCE) aims to help close these gaps through the development and field testing of a new low cost, compact polarization interferometer. It is designed to observe thermospheric neutral winds from the ground and ultimately from space. Simultaneous and coincident measurements of neutral winds using this instrument and plasma drift parameters using existing ionosonde infrastructure are planned. These measurements will provide a detailed and unique window into ion-neutral coupling.

Spaceflights pose risk on the cerebrovascular health of astronauts because humans are not accustomed to living under microgravity conditions. To facilitate cerebrovascular health assessments, it is essential to monitor cerebral blood flow accurately.

This project will seek to advance the state-of-art in monitoring cerebral blood flow in astronauts (and humans on Earth) by designing a new non-invasive diagnostic tool that can robustly measure the volume flow rate through the internal carotid artery that supplies circulation to the brain. These space physiology investigations and engineering innovations will be crucial for understanding the cerebrovascular health risks of human spaceflights, especially for long-term space missions to Mars that require multiple years of space travel.

Our research investigations will also directly benefit cerebrovascular health monitoring on Earth, particularly in facilitating early detection of cerebral hypoperfusion. As the elderly population is especially at risk of experiencing cerebral perfusion problems, the outcomes of this project will serve well to address diagnostic needs in promoting health aging of the elderly (and the overall Canadian population). In addition, the proposed technology will be relevant for use in remote, resource-limited communities in rural Canada. Moreover, from a talent development perspective, this project will foster several trainees to develop multidisciplinary expertise at the frontiers of space physiology and ultrasound technology. In turn, it will help Canada build an outstanding talent pool for medical device innovations.

NASA has stated the goal of sending humans to the Martian surface by the mid-2030s, and so reconnaissance of potential landing zones needs to be complete before a first landing site can be chosen. Water ice is the most important in situ resource utilization (ISRU) for humans, even above building materials because it can be melted and cleaned to be used as drinking water and rocket fuel. As such, sending humans to locations with abundant and accessible water will enable crewed missions earlier, for lower cost, and with less risk than if the vehicles had to carry enough water to support a full length mission and a return trip.
The goal of the International Mars Ice Mapper (I-MIM) mission is to quantify the presence, depth to, distribution, and purity of water ice in reconnaissance zones that are favorable for future human exploration and colonization.

The purpose of this project is to quantify the performance of L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and sounder in terrestrial analogue sites in preparation of flight of the L-band radar on the I-MIM mission. The main objectives are to collect, validate, and calibrate airborne SAR and sounding data at locations known to have dry sediment overlying thick ground ice ¿ the types of materials that will be sought on Mars in preparation for ISRU during human exploration of that planet. In order to complete these objectives, ground truth data, will be collected. Further, development and validation of finite difference time-domain (FDTD) radar simulating code will take place as part of the validation and prediction of Mars radar performance.

The primary applications that will come from this is better predicted performance of the Canadian radar that is the anchor payload of I-MIM and faster, more accurate interpretations of the collected data.

The next generation of far-infrared (FIR) space astronomy missions will employ detectors whose sensitivity is over two orders of magnitude higher than any previously flown. To exploit this exquisite sensitivity requires a fundamentally different type of instrument architecture.

The main objectives of this project are to develop the world’s first cryogenic, far-infrared, post-dispersed, polarizing Fourier transform spectrometer (PDPFTS) and to investigate the challenges associated with this concept under realistic space conditions. Simply put, in order to achieve the potential 100-fold increase in sensitivity provided by state-of-the-art detectors requires the instrument be characterized to a correspondingly greater degree. Issues that did not have to be considered on previous missions will become important and perhaps even dominant. These issues must first be identified before they can be mitigated. The project builds on a lengthy heritage of Canadian participation in infrared space astronomy missions. It will lead to a greater understanding of the PDPFTS concept, which will serve to reduce future mission risk and cost. It will continue to train Highly Qualified Personnel in high-tech fields associated with space exploration missions.