After the government made a significant funding announcement of $200 million for Earth Observation in mid-October, the Canadian Space Agency is now looking to industry for supporting technologies of the US led Atmosphere Observing System.
Industry has until Dec. 22 to submit a Letter of Interest (LOI) as Canada moves forward in advancing its Earth Observation strategy. The formal announcement or the LOI’s came on November 30, giving industry just over three weeks to respond. Of course as these things work, the players who will respond had already has been preparing for this announcement.
It was a surprise announcement at the first Space Bound conference on October 18 that Franรงois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry announced that Canada will contribute to the NASA-ledย Atmosphere Observing Systemย (AOS) that aims to measure connections between aerosols, clouds, precipitation and atmospheric convection. In speaking with several industry representatives at the conference, none were aware the announcement was imminent.
AOS aims to meet modelling problems identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which notes global warming projections have uncertainties due to our lack of understanding in how aerosols affect clouds and the amount of solar radiation Earth receives.