The Canadian Space Agency has issued another health in space Announcement of Opportunity (AO), this one on Human Analog Studies.
As with past opportunities related to health in space, all proposals must have the dual-purpose of meeting the requirements of increasing our “understanding, mitigation or elimination of health risks associated with human space exploration” and “generate scientific insights that will contribute to applications on Earth.”
In it’s introduction the CSA in parts states this intent by saying that the “science investigations that will lead to a better understanding of human spaceflight risks while contributing to improve remote medicine and health benefits here on Earth. The focus of research to be funded in this AO will be on human-subject space analogue studies that reproduce the health and performance factors of space environments such as variable gravity, isolation, and confinement. Well-designed ground studies are valuable for improving the understanding of the risks of spaceflight or for initial validation of new countermeasures. The studies targeted in this AO must be precursors of Canadian investigations on the ISS or lunar Gateway.”
There are three specific objectives for the Human Analog Studies opportunity.
- Create an opportunity for new space life science experiments to generate knowledge and insight into the risks of human space flight, with the ultimate objective to keep astronauts healthy in space. All proposed studies must clearly indicate how they are a direct precursor of future Canadian investigations on the ISS or Lunar Gateway;
- Advance understanding of similar health issues or applications on Earth, that could contribute to improving health of Canadians;
- Foster the development of highly qualified personnel (HQP), and inclusion of diversity of HQP in space health and life sciences.
The AO is open to:
- Canadian post-secondary institutions, defined as a Canadian university or college (including CEGEPs in Quebec) that has provincial accreditation to grant degrees, diplomas, certificates or other recognized qualifications;
- Not for profit organizations established and operating in Canada that have research included in their institutional mandate, and that have a standing Research Ethics Board (as defined by the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans), or that delegate this responsibility to another institution’s recognized board.
The funding type is in the form of grants with each project receiving a maximum funding of $300,000. The Human Analog Studies projects can run up to three years and will start no earlier than April, 2025 which is the beginning of the CSA’s next fiscal year. Applications are due by February 10, 2025.
Also released this week was the Health & Life Sciences Data and Sample Mining (DM) or Research Models (RM) AO.