Grants and Contributions

EOD technicians are trained to disassemble improvised explosive devices (IEDs), while preserving forensic evidence in order to target the terrorist bomb making network. This is a specialist skillset that requires technical equipment to reduce the risk of casualties to EOD technicians. The Iraqi Army Bomb Disposal School is the centre of excellence for EOD disposal in Iraq.

This project will provide six (6) X-ray generator kits for the Iraqi Army Bomb Disposal School (IABDS). The X-ray generator kits will each include an X-ray generator, laptop, imaging plates, associated carrying case, and accessories. The X-ray kits will allow Iraqi explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) technicians to scan IEDs for booby traps and other mechanisms designed to detonate the device, while simultaneously preserving evidence required to target terrorist networks.

Stratospheric balloon telescopes, operating above 99.5% of the Earth's atmosphere, avoid atmospheric distortions present in terrestrial ground based telescopes, thus improving the observation of stars.

The project goal is to repair and upgrade the Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT) telescope to improve, in particular, star camera performance and automatic telescope focus/alignment. The SuperBIT telescope will provide large images of distant galaxies with detail comparable to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. This project will pave the way for future telescopes with even greater capabilities and will additionally explore other applications, including earth observation.

Reliable climate data is crucial for Canadians to understand how our climate is changing. The Canadian Atmospheric Laser Absorption Spectroscopy Experiment Test-bed (CALASET) aims to build a suite of instruments to verify measurements from Earth-observing satellites. It is important to ensure that these space-based instruments are performing well to produce critical climate data.

The CALASET-Next Generation (CALASET-NG) project furthers this development with two main objectives: 1) develop new technologies for measuring gases in the atmosphere and provide a validation and verification capability for current and future satellite missions, and 2) provide concept-to-flight education and training for the students who will become the scientists and engineers needed for future satellite missions.

The project team will design, build and test innovative instrumentation for measuring how atmospheric gas concentrations change with height, and will analyze these data following the instruments' flight on a stratospheric balloon.

Over the next decade, advancements in X-ray detectors will revolutionize our understanding of some of the most extreme events in the Universe. It will be possible to measure precisely and simultaneously the energy and arrival time of X-ray radiation coming from astrophysical sources.

The project aims to answer fundamental questions in astrophysics, leading to a better understanding of the nature and workings of neutron stars, black holes and the remnants of supernova explosions—the astrophysical objects driving the energetic and chemical evolution of our galaxy and beyond. The next generation of highly qualified personnel will be trained to get the most out of new large datasets by using observations from launched space-based missions, such as the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) onboard the International Space Station. They will be also trained to work on future missions and tackle the large datasets that businesses and governments use today.

Increasing variable and unpredictable sea ice conditions in Canadian Arctic waters require the development of technologies for enhancing domain awareness, mitigation hazards, and understanding environmental change.

As part of Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC), researchers in the project, committed to understanding the consequences of Arctic climate change, are deploying microwave scatterometer systems on the sea ice in order to collect snow and sea ice geophysical property measurements, microwave scatterometer measurements, and multi-sensor satellite observations. Data collected will enable researchers to develop information products, addressing the social and environmental consequences of rapidly changing ice conditions in Canadian waters, decreasing risks from sea-ice associated hazards, and improving the accuracy of short-term weather and sea ice forecast.

Studies on spaceflights lasting more than one year have shown that, due to weightlessness, astronauts on long missions may lose as much as twenty percent of their bone mass, which leads to a significant increase in risk of fracture and other complications.

Following the previous work and discovery in bone-resorbing osteoclasts and in optimizing bone cell culture in simulated microgravity, the present project aims to determine the molecular mechanism behind bone loss in astronauts. The main objectives include the grow of osteoclasts on bone surfaces in simulated microgravity, comparison of the osteoclasts grown in static culture to those in simulated microgravity, and the direct measurement of osteoclast morphology, ultrastructure, differentiation, fusion and bone-resorbing activity.

In addition to engaging trainees' in discovery-based microgravity research and developing novel bone cell micro carriers, this work will identify potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of osteoporosis in astronauts and in patients on Earth.

The potential to identify and analyze distributions of isotopologues would provide new opportunities in the search for biosignatures of life as part of astrobiology-related space missions.

This project aims to extend the capabilities of a planetary science laboratory instrument that combines three measurement techniques for Mars exploration: laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence. In particular, the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy mode of the instrument will be extended to measure isotopes of key elements important for dating and discrimination of biological and abiological signatures.

This work will result in new knowledge on the environmental sensitivity of these techniques in environments relevant to the Earth, Moon, Mars, asteroids and comets; providing new capabilities for planetary exploration. It will also be valuable in understanding and updating the requirements for a future flight instrument.

The terrains of Mars and the Moon consist of fine granular regolith with embedded rocks. The entrapment of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in soft regolith and the tears and punctures in the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover's wheels demonstrate some of the current mobility challenges of extraterrestrial granular terrains. Understanding the nature of interactions with granular terrains is thus crucial to exploring these high priority destinations.

This project aims to advance robot mobility in granular terrains, through studying the effects of reduced gravity on wheel-soil interactions. A crucial long-term contribution of such experimental work is the development and validation of models and/or on-Earth soil simulants general enough to eventually supplant the need to fly reduced-gravity campaigns for each new wheel/soil/gravity configuration. Such reduced-gravity rover soil testing apparatus could provide an experimentation infrastructure for Canadian companies to test, validate, and raise the technology readiness level of wheels for any planned Lunar or Martian rovers.

This research will contribute to Canada being at the cutting-edge of planetary rover research, to maintaining its global position of leadership in space robotics, and to inspiring the next generation of Canadians to reach for the stars.

Validation is crucial to the success of every satellite mission. Without validation, the ability to interpret satellite measurements for scientific studies is significantly hampered or, in some cases, rendered impossible. This is especially true for satellite missions that focus on questions of the carbon cycle.

The project's objectives are to improve atmospheric trace gas retrievals from a ground-based remote sensing observatory, and to perform scientific investigations of Canadian urban greenhouse gas emissions. By combining space-based and ground-based remote sensing measurements of greenhouse gases, project results will provide Canadians with scientific evidence upon which to base public policy regarding Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Secretariat plays a coordination and facilitative role for the SUN Movement in order to improve nutrition outcomes in developing countries, particularly for women and children under five, in the 61 member countries and states. It also tracks the SUN Movement’s successes, and seeks to ensure that SUN countries receive the support they need to achieve their nutrition objectives.
This project supports the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Secretariat. The SUN Movement is a global convening mechanism for stakeholders in global nutrition with the aim to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition. It includes 61 countries and 4 Indian States that are leading a global movement to end malnutrition in all its forms.
The main function of the SUN Movement Secretariat is to coordinate efforts within the SUN Movement, and ensure that SUN countries receive the support they need to achieve their nutrition objectives.
The work of the Secretariat is guided by the vision of the SUN Lead Group, members of which are high-level leaders committed to nutrition.
Project activities include: (1) supporting the SUN Movement Secretariat Programme of Work, as indicated in their 2016-2020 Strategic Plan, to ensure the transition to Phase III of SUN for several key areas of work including: support to SUN countries; liaison with various networks, the Lead Group and the Executive Committee; communication and advocacy; and monitoring and evaluation; (2) supporting the completion of the Strategic Review, and the drafting/implementation of the 2021-2025 Strategic Plan which works to make recommendations on the vision, strategy, capabilities and structure of the next phase of the Movement (2021-2025); and (3) convening a process to ensure the SUN pooled fund is fit for purpose and contributes to the delivery of the SUN Strategy 3.0. The pooled fund is a source of grant funding to support in-country activities at the national and subnational levels to scale up nutrition. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) administers the SUN pooled fund and grants.