Science

Everyone knows how critical water is in the daily lives of everyone on our planet. That’s why the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission which will conduct the first-ever global survey of Earth’s surface water is important and why Canada is contributing to the mission.

Yesterday at the Université Laval the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, announced an investment of $328.5 million to 17 national research facilities at 12 universities across the country as part of the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) Major Science Initiative (MSI) fund including $30 million in funding for two space related research programs.

The Canadian Space Agency issued a request for proposals (RFP) today with the aim of determining the feasibility of a sub-surface ice sounder as a hosted payload on NASA’s Next Mars Orbiter (NeMO) which is a concept mission that could be headed to Mars in 2022. Earlier this year NASA held an industry day to talk about this conceptual mission. NASA Watch obtained a copy …

The Canadian government has officially begun the hunt for a Chief Science Officer, a position that the Liberals promised to create once elected. The announcement was made this morning in Ottawa by the Science Minister, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan.

The Canadian Space Agency held a live technical briefing today at Western University to talk about the Mars Sample Return Simulation which began Monday.

For the fourth consecutive year, a Canadian led Mars Sample Return Simulation will begin today in preparation for a future international Mars sample return mission. The simulation brings together over 50 scientists and engineers from across Canada and international collaborators from the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Anyone who has watched a science fiction movie about travelling in space knows that the weightless environment of microgravity on a space ship affects your ability to navigate and orient yourself. But in real life, the impact of microgravity on an astronaut’s brain both in space and after returning to earth has received very little scientific attention.

This week the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) issued an announcement of opportunity (AO) for researchers to participate in a stratospheric balloon flight in Alice Springs, Australia in April 2017. The AO is part of the Flight for the Advancement of Science and Technology (FAST) program.

The Perimeter Institute published today that a team led by the Institute’s Tim Johannsen along with the University of Waterloo have demonstrated a new method for testing the theory of general relativity using black holes.

After passing over North America, a crew member aboard the International Space Station looked back at the coastline and took this photograph of one of the world’s most famous bays. The image shows the upper 54 kilometers (33 miles) of the 220 kilometer-long (140 mile) Bay of Fundy, site of the highest vertical tidal range on the planet.