The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has issued the Phase 0 request for proposals (RFP) for the HAWCsat concept mission, anticipated to be part of Canada’s contribution to the NASA led Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) Earth observation (EO) constellation.
The RFP follows the announcement in October 2022 by François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry that Canada would participate in the NASA led AOS EO constellation and was investing $200M towards AO instruments including HAWCsat. At the time a Letter of Intent was issued by the CSA.
The HAWCSat satellite is led by Canada which will build the satellite and provide two instruments, the Aerosol Limb Imager (ALI) and Spatial Heterodyne Observations of Water (SHOW). According to NASA’s timeline as it stands now, HAWCsat would launch in 2031.
The instruments “will provide critical data to support extreme weather prediction, climate modelling, and monitoring of disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, wildfires and extreme precipitation.”
Canada is also providing the Thin Ice Clouds and Far InfraRed Emissions instrument on the U.S. AOL-Sky satellite.
The CSA said a bidders’ conference will be held in the coming weeks after the release of this RFP. The closing date for submissions is September 24, 2024.