The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has identified new priority technologies it’s interested in developing and includes blockchain and new sensors for “the exploration of new worlds” among others. Up to eight contracts are available with a maximum funding of $8.1 million for all the contracts.
The notice of possible procurement posted yesterday is a recurring opportunity for developing priority technologies and comes from community developed roadmaps and fits in with last years new space strategy.
The CSA will issue a maximum of eight contracts worth a total value of $8.1 million. Contract periods will vary from 14 to 24 months based on the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of each technology.
The procurement document states that “for every Priority Technologies (PTs) the work solicited is the development and advancement of these technologies up to potentially Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL 6) to reduce technical uncertainties and support approval and implementation of specific potential future space missions of interest to Canada.”
List of Priority Technologies
1 – Wide-Field Astronomical Imaging in UV/Optical – Critical Technologies (Maximum 1 contract, $2,250,000)
This priority technology relates to the Cosmological Advanced Survey Telescope for Optical and UV Research (CASTOR) concept which has been a priority of the astronomy community for some time.
Priority Technology Background
Understanding the origin and evolution of the universe, galaxies, stars, planets and life itself is a fundamental objective of astronomy. Following community led scientific prioritization in astronomical research in Canada (RD-02, RD-03, RD-04, RD-05), the concept for a wide field of view optical / Ultra-Violet (UV) space telescope was proposed, mainly for the investigation of dark energy. The concept referred to as CASTOR (Cosmological Advanced Survey Telescope for Optical and UV Research) was proposed as a Canadian led space telescope mission. A concept study was completed in 2012 for a 1-m class wide field space telescope with a large focal plane array. A Science Maturation Study (SMS) completed in 2019 elaborated on the science objectives in cosmology and other fields of astrophysics and derived the mission and payload requirements (AD-06, AD-07).
As proposed, CASTOR is a 1-meter class space telescope concept on a small satellite platform that would make a unique contribution to astrophysics by providing wide field, high-resolution imaging in the UV and optical spectral region, surpassing any ground-based optical telescope in image sharpness. To achieve these goals the payload presents challenging demands on optical telescope design and structure, detector systems, coatings and in its wavefront and pointing stability requirements.
2 – Enabling Technologies for the Exploration of New Worlds – Microsatellite Opportunity (Maximum 1 contract, $1,000,000)
Targeted mission
Following the success of the Canadian Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars (MOST), Near Earth Orbit/Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) and BRight Target Explorer (BRITE) missions, the intent is to create options for an opportunity for the development of a future potential Canadian led exoplanet mission within a scope of a micro-satellite class platform and affordability. The CSA investment for the proposed mission must remain in the range of a microsatellite budget, thus the approximate CSA mission lifecycle investment is not to exceed $35M Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) Life Cycle Cost (LCC). The ROM cost is meant to represent the scope of a potential mission and does not imply any CSA commitment to such a mission or that specific a budget is allocated.
3 – Enabling Technologies for the Exploration of New Worlds – microsatellite opportunity (Maximum 1 contract, $1,000,000)
Targeted mission
This SOW (statement of work) does not target a specific mission or mission class. Instead a range of opportunities can be considered and proposed related to national and international initiatives for advancements of exoplanet research. The proposed advancement must build on existing Canadian technology and reference should be made to past developments in Canada describing the innovation and prospects for applications towards space based exoplanet research. Mid-term and longer term opportunities can be considered. In this SOW for PT3, the term ‘targeted mission’ includes: mission opportunities, longer term potential future missions, mission concepts, as well as balloon flight projects.
4 – Mass and Volume Reduction for Planetary Exploration Instrument (Maximum 2 contracts, $1,000,000)
Priority Technology Background
Planetary science addresses compelling questions such as ‘Are we alone in the Universe?’; ‘How atmospheres form, behave and interact with planetary surfaces?’; ‘How do solar system bodies form and evolve?’; and, ‘What is the fundamental connection between the sun and the planets?’.
The CSA is in the process of formulating a vision for planetary science aligned with Canadian planetary science community priorities (0), the 2019 Canadian Space Strategy, and the activities of our international partners.
Canadian participation in planetary exploration missions relies on international partnerships. Recent contributions of Canadian instruments (MET, APXS, OLA) were facilitated via competitive processes where the foreign partner selected the payloads or missions that would ultimately fly. Because Canada is usually not able to independently choose what instruments are selected for flight projects, its preparedness to contribute to international missions relies upon advancing a breadth of credible options that are of sufficient maturity to be selectable when the opportunities present themselves.
The goal of this work is to advance technology readiness and reduce cost for a new Canadian planetary instrument to add to possible options for future mission opportunities to solar system targets. Specifically, the objective of this project is mass and volume reduction for mature concepts.
This work does not include planetary instrument concepts targeting the Moon, which are eligible for investments under the CSA Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP).
The intent is that only one award will be made per project: i.e. should more than one bid be received with different or complementary technology objectives for the same instrument concept, all such bids will be evaluated independently, and only the highest ranking bid for each instrument concept will be retained for consideration.
5 – SAR High Speed On-Board Processing (Maximum 1 contract, $1,750,000)
Priority Technology Background
The need for on-board processing (OBP) of data for space-based missions continues to grow due to the increasing quantity of data being acquired by satellites along with operational requirements calling for rapid response to collected data. Processing data on-board a satellite can provide additional advantages which include improved payload performance, reduced consumption, and decreased data latency. The advantages of OBP are especially pertinent to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite missions as they typically acquire radar images at high data rates and require significant processing before the information can be extracted.
- Accordingly, two types of future SAR missions have been identified that could benefit from OBP:
- Earth Observation (EO) Missions: OBP could be used to extract information in near- real-time (NRT) and react quickly and automatically to this information. E.g., Image data could be acquired over a flooded area using a large swath and coarse resolution, processed on-board, and analyzed to identify critical areas in NRT and subsequently task high-resolution images.
- Interplanetary Mission: OBP could reduce the volume of data by a factor of 10 or more and could allow the spacecraft to make autonomous decisions. E.g., A SAR satellite in orbit around Mars could image the surface, process the data, analyze the results, and then transfer only pertinent data to Earth.
6 – Cloud-computing for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) processing (Maximum 1 contract, $600,000)
Priority Technology Background
This Technology Development proposes to improve Earth Observation (EO) systems through the definition, design and tested demonstration of a platform for discovery, access, processing and exploitation of EO data. Cloud computing has been demonstrated as a cost-effective and efficient way to access information. The recent publication of Treasury Board (TB) Strategy for cloud computing” (RD-1) as well as the TB “Direction on the Secure Use of Commercial Cloud Services: Security Policy Implementation Notice” (AD-1) has provided clear guidance on the implementation of such solution within the GoC.
Although Earth Observation is an established key area for innovation, the access to the information obtained from satellites currently follows traditional and expensive paths to cover on- demand services for different potential customers: conventional data centres and conventional distribution of services. This presents several drawbacks such as the cost of acquiring, processing, archiving and accessing images; clients cannot access the information they need directly nor quickly due to ad-hoc processing and distribution; the services are not flexible to support service-on-demand.
The proposed project would emphasize future Internet technologies in order to improve EO services by aiming at reducing the costs associated with on-premises deployment, by efficiency of data workflows while meeting data compatibility and access protocols for various clients and users. It is also anticipated that enhanced security features such as advanced perimeter firewalls, intrusion detection systems and data-at-rest encryption etc. would ensure compliance with data integrity protocols.
As an example, the current RCM data processing is managed by the CSA RCM Production chain. And RCM order acquisition is managed by the RCM order handling system. The current architecture only supports predefined processing, via predefined workflow, within pre-allocated processing capabilities. Inspired to increase the impact of EO data for decision making and digital economy, Government of Canada is investing in growing EO exploitation capability in Canada, cloud computing present great opportunities as demonstrated by Canadian and international partners such as ESA, USGS, NASA, NOAA and others. At present time, RCM archives is managed by EO data management system (EODMS).
Targeted mission
This technology will be pertinent to the Earth Observation SAR Continuity (EOSC) study as well as RCM operational developments.
7 – Block Chaining in service of Earth Observation Big Data (Maximum 1 contract, $500,000)
Priority Technology Background
This Technology Development proposes to explore new technologies to enhance security and protect valuable Earth Observation (EO) data. In particular, it intends to study how Distributed General Ledger technologies such as blockchain can be used to independently verify the integrity and provenance of Earth Observation data sets. As data is generated, moved across organizational boundaries and data hubs, and finally ingested into analytic platforms, it is important to mitigate risks of accidental data corruption, processing errors, vulnerabilities such as security violation, data tampering or malicious interference in the databases.
Blockchain as a security mechanism can be deployed independently or in conjunction with a cloud data storage model.
More organizations are adopting a cloud computing infrastructure, private or public, for data storage as well as to manage the different corporate applications. CSA, as an organization, adopted multiple research initiatives to explore the use of both cloud computing to build satellite information technology ground infrastructure for its missions and blockchaining. Blockchain is being considered as a security mechanism for the delivery of missions products, which would support the organization’s vision of innovation and collaboration. In this technology development effort, we are limiting the deployment to a mission product (EO data sets) to the users who ordered them or to the data storage repository which could be another government department.
The main objective of this project is to present a full end-to-end chain of safekeeping for data through its lifecycle, and solutions that can assure data integrity and immutability. This is in accordance with AD-1 as well as RD-1 and RD-2.
Targeted mission
This technology will target all missions with users that have a direct need for integrity assurance and long-term provenance of EO data products and their value chain. It will be pertinent to most Earth Observation missions such as Wildfiresat, the Earth Observation SAR Continuity (EOSC) study as well as Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM). The following are potential user groups for this technology:
- Satellite EO mission operators, including the operators of the Radarsat Constellation and follow-on missions such as EOSC which provide near real-time EO data processing at CSA as well as long-term data archiving service.
- Collaborative nodes for missions.
- Downstream application service providers (for example in risk management, environmental management, logistics or insurance domains) in need of a verifiable and trusted data value chain.