The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is providing additional funding in the amount of $500,000 each to Canadensys Aerospace and MDA Space for the Lunar Surface Exploration Initiative.
Specifically the CSA said the additional funding is for “advancing rover operations,” with the CSA adding that “these activities could prove key to the development of the future Canadian utility rover.”
The new funding follows an announcement last December when the CSA awarded $2.9M to four companies for six projects for sustainable lunar exploration.
According to the CSA. the Lunar Surface Exploration Initiative looks to “advance technologies focused on five fundamental fields for lunar exploration.” Those fields include:
- Agriculture and food production;
- Autonomous and intelligent robots and rovers;
- Avionics and communication;
- Mining and In-situ resource utilization and;
- Power generation and distribution.
Both Canadensys Aerospace and MDA Space received two awards in the December announcement.
Canadensys Aerospace received $449,998 for their prototypes of a plant growth tray and water disinfection assembly designed to support crewed lunar habitation, and $500,000 for a prototype of a complete rover-representative vehicle, rated for terrestrial operations.
MDA Space received $494,098 for the development and assessment of algorithms to achieve continuous driving, and $500,000 for the development of algorithms and autonomous plant management tools for a nuclear power system on the lunar surface.