Canadian Space Payload Accelerator announced with the Moon as the destination

Global Affairs Canada via its Los Angeles office of the Trade Commissioner Service and the Canadian Space Agency announced last Friday the “first” Canadian Space Payload Accelerator.

The online 12 week program will provide participants a “rigorous space science concept opportunity for Canadian organizations ready to accelerate their ideas in the space exploration industry.”

“This fast-track online Design Academy is a unique opportunity to learn effective industry practices and processes to mature a space concept to a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) Level.”

The accelerator is open to the following organizations:

• Canadian companies with space mission concepts or prototypes.
• Canadian STEM faculty or student(s) at a Canadian College or University.
• Canadian hybrid Teams i.e. collaboration specifically initiated for this Design Academy between a Canadian company and students at a Canadian University or College.

Participants will need to focus their payload concepts as part of the NASA led international Artemis program effort.

Specifically the “selected Teams will need to show how their payload designs could engage in activities supporting science goals for returning humans to the moon, therefore advancing one or more of the Artemis III Science requirements as defined by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).”

“As a reminder, the Artemis III mission will be the first human mission to the surface of the Moon in the 21st Century, and will build on the legacy of Apollo to usher in the modern era of human exploration and development in deep space. The lunar surface is an ideal location to answer fundamental planetary science questions. In the 50 years since humans last visited the Moon, new advances arising from robotic lunar missions, reanalysis of older data, modeling, and sample analysis have produced dramatic results and new questions about planetary volcanism, volatiles, impact processes, tectonics, and the lunar environment. Driven by new questions, we set out a robust science plan for the Artemis III crew return to the lunar surface. NASA’s identified science goals are:”

• Understanding planetary processes.
• Understanding the character and origin of lunar polar volatiles.
• Interpreting the impact history of the Earth-Moon system.
• Revealing the record of the ancient sun and our astronomical environment.
• Observing the universe and the local space environment from a unique location.
• Conducting experimental science in the lunar environment.
• Investigating and mitigating exploration risks.

Those interested can get more information and apply for the Canadian Space Payload Accelerator here.