A discussion of the Artemis program, and how the Canadarm3 can help turn the Lunar Gateway into a “flying space laboratory for deep space” preceded a number of presentations.
Gateway and Canadarm
MDA’s Peter Quinlan led off the session by discussing Canada’s key contribution to the Lunar Gateway: the Canadarm3 and its related external robotics. After giving a breakdown of the history of Canadian robotics and its connection to both MDA and its predecessor Spar Aerospace and MDR, including noting that both Canadarm 1 and 2 were “critical in the construction of the ISS,” he moved on to the Artemis missions.
For Artemis, he gave a short timeline on the mission and on how Canada will be contributing its robotics to the Artemis program. Artemis 3, of course, will be the actual return to the Moon’s surface. Artemis 4 will be the start of construction of the Lunar Gateway, and Artemis 5 will be when Canadarm3 will finally be added to the Lunar Gateway. From there it will be present as Artemis 6 adds the airlock, which is “currently the last intended module.” By Artemis 8, he said that the intention is to have surface habitations, “you’re going to have pressurized rovers…you might have fission surface power, and you’re gonna have all those commercial rovers that whoever’s exploring the Moon can rent to use.”
He then laid out the major components of Gateway, besides the Canadian manipulators. The Power and Propulsion Module is the Satellite Bus for Gateway, and is supplied by Maxar. Quinlan said that the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) is basically the bridge of Gateway, and that HALO will be where Canadarm3 is controlled by astronauts on board the station. The International Habitation Module will be where visiting astronauts live during their “stay”—as Gateway is intended to be unmanned most of the time, and the Esprit Refueling Module will be used to both refuel Gateway from incoming spacecraft and, if necessary, store fuel for spacecraft to use.
This fuel storage capability could become far more important if and when in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) becomes more of a factor in the lunar economy.
The last part of the presentation was more information on the robotic manipulators themselves: both Canadarm3 (which MDA calls “GERS”, the Gateway External Robotic System) and the smaller arm and other manipulator robot. All of them are built by MDA, and all will be launching in 2028 according to NASA’s schedules. They will “turn [Lunar Gateway] into a flying space laboratory for deep space,” as well as move payloads. Quinlan said the manipulators are going to “make new space for the Canadian space industry”, and that MDA is “trying to make sure that we’re at the forefront of it,” pointing to MDA’s involvement with the commercial Axiom station.
Cosmic Particles and Radiation
In questions session, Quinlan was asked about cosmic radiation, and acknowledged that solar events and “space weather dosing” can be serious issues in lunar orbit. He said that they will build to NASA’s standards, and that they’re talking with NASA about those standards and potential changes to those standards.
Some of the presentations that followed touched more on this question of radiation; both tracking it for safety purposes and for scientific purposes. Dr. Robert Fedosejevs presented information on his team’s Sweeping Energetic Particle Telescope (SWEPT) for the Gateway. SWEPT is one way that scientists will be working to answer the question posed to Quinlan about safety. SWEPT will be able to not only track space radiation, but will be able to track its direction. It will even be able to predict dangerous events, by tracking electron precursors to solar energetic particle events, creating the opportunity to build an early warning system for impending radiation events. Fedosejevs said that the Lunar Gateway would be an “ideal platform” for SWEPT.
A similar presentation, by Jose Arnal at the University of Toronto, posited that the Lunar Gateway would be “a unique opportunity” to study both these kinds of disturbances and the solar wind in general, but that handling the often-noisy signals would be difficult. He presented a model that will help make studying the plasma environment around the Moon more reliable and more accurate.
Another presentation, by the University of Alberta’s Dr. Suleiman Baraka, focused on a simulation of interactions between the “solar wind” and the lunar surface. His team’s complex model simulated the movement of oxygen and hydrogen ions in space, and how they were captured by the Moon. They found that the day side and night side of the Moon will have slightly different electrical charges, with oxygen depositing more on the day side of the Moon and hydrogen more on the night side, and that the magnetic capture effects of the Moon would be “enhanced” at its surface and in its wake. This may have important impacts on lunar ISRU efforts, and will be the start of further research into the Moon’s magnetic field going forward.
Lunar Dust and STEM Engagement
Another presentation was focused on inspiring the next generation of space scientists, with Dr. Bhairavi Shankar talking about “engaging the next generation of the Canadian STEAM Workforce through lunar challenges.” Her organization, Indus Space, has been focused on connecting marginalized youth in the Greater Toronto Area with scientific fields, so as to resolve the historical underrepresentation of those groups in the sciences. She presented some of their work on lunar exploration, how it differed based on age groups, and how lunar-focused programs were a big hit with the students she’d worked with.
She also discussed how they were facilitating STEM-related high school co-op projects focused on space, and shared her hope that the Lunar Gateway will work as a vehicle to inspire more interest in space among marginalized youth.
The final presentation was by Dr. Amy Shaw, from MDA. Shaw presented the Canadian Lunar DUSTER (DUst Science and Technology for Environmental Research) instrument, which will be used to gain scientific insights on lunar dust. Lunar dust is everywhere on the Moon, and actually poses a potentially significant threat to both crew and equipment on the Lunar Gateway. The DUSTER will be used to study the dust, as well as capture it for study in the station and on Earth. This will help with better understanding how it behaves and how it’s affected, as well as gaining insights into the effects of meteorite bombardment, the solar wind, the Moon’s magnetosphere, and the local plasma environment—allowing for more accurate modelling for scientists like Arnal and Dr. Baraka.
The DUSTER would be externally mounted on the Lunar Gateway, moved about by the Canadarm3, and would actually serve two functions. It would analyze the dust, but will simultaneously remove dust from other equipment and instruments on the station. Shaw described the DUSTER as “taking dust from areas that don’t want it to the people that do want it”. It will not only give us the knowledge we need to mitigate the effects of lunar dust—it will directly aid in management through its sampling process.
Shaw said that this kind of equipment will also be a critical part of any Moon-to-Mars strategy, as the Martian environment will be equally dusty, and will require mitigation and protection as well.