Technology

New IDEaS program challenges were released today from the Canadian Safety and Security Program and include a call for proposals for Wildfire intelligence – A common picture for detection and suppression.

MDA Space will be making a major change to their upcoming MDA CHORUS satellite constellation adding a vessel detection onboard processing system (VDOP). The system will give the constellation the ability to both track and identify vessels on the satellite itself, then “rapidly deliver geointelligence data and information direct to users at sea.” 

Vancouver-based Metaspectral has announced that a team created by the company has reached the semi-finals of the XPRIZE Wildfire competition. Eight other Canadian entries failed to make the cut. The XPRIZE Wildfire competition is a four year, multi-track, $11 million USD competition focused on developing technologies that can mitigate wildfires. According to XPRIZE, it is intended to “transform current wildfire management approaches through the development of …

NASA has released the Source Selection Statement for the Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services contract that provides details including costs and evaluation scores on the three companies selected, Intuitive Machines, Venturi Astrolab and Lunar Outpost. MDA is a team member of the Lunar Outpost proposal.

Two Canadian companies, Ecoation and Maia Farms, won the Canadian Deep Space Food Challenge $380,000 grand prize today (April 10). The competition was co-hosted by NASA and the Canadian Space Agency/Impact Canada, with separate runoffs for each country.

With the federal budget being released on April 16, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Cabinet are unveiling a series of initiatives including on Sunday when he announced the Securing Canada’s AI (Artificial Intelligence) advantage initiative.

NASA has set a tentative date of No Earlier Than (NET) Monday, April 22, 2024 for what is expected to be the final test flight of the Starliner capsule. Should this Crew Flight Test (CFT) go smoothly then the Starliner-1 mission with Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk onboard would launch NET early 2025.

The Deep Space Healthcare Challenge selected EZResus among the five finalists on Wednesday (Feb. 28), securing a $500,000 for the winners in a challenge co-run by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Impact Canada.

NASA has released a report on space-based solar power that acknowledges its viability, but questions its cost-effectiveness.  While NASA grants that the technology could be used as a renewable source of energy by 2050, they raised concerns as to its potential cost vis-a-vis terrestrial generation, which sparked responses focused on whether NASA’s cost assumptions were accurate or overly pessimistic. This page is for subscribers only. …

At this stage of the Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission, there is good reason for the company and NASA to celebrate. The Odysseus descent and landing was mostly successful. The news that the spacecraft tipped over and possibly broke a “leg” though does take some shine off the exuberance. However, what was barely discussed at the almost hour and a half news conference Friday was the …