KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLORIDA – The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) says it’s ready to adapt as the Artemis program’s focus evolves from a space station into a lunar base, SpaceQ learned in an exclusive interview.
“We’re looking at the space programs of this nature that span decades. And as a result, you have to assume that you’re going to end up with something a little different when you start it off,” Mathieu Caron, the CSA’s director of life sciences and space medicine, told SpaceQ on Monday (March 30).
Caron and the CSA contingent are in Florida, along with SpaceQ, in anticipation of the Artemis 2 round-the-Moon launch as soon as April 1. Artemis 2 is launching CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen and his three NASA crewmates (Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch).
Hansen’s seat – along with participation by backup CSA astronaut Jenni Gibbons, as well as science and engineering – was paid for by CSA contributions to the Artemis program, such as the flagship Canadarm3 robotic arm that was expected to anchor maintenance of the NASA-led Gateway space station.
NASA announced last week, however, that the agency intends to pause development of Gateway to focus on a lunar base to support surface operations. The CSA Canadarm3 contract with MDA Space remains ongoing, and MDA emphasized last week that the $1 billion robotic arm is at a good spot in the design process to pivot for other uses as required.
Caron said such program shifts can and do happen among partners, such as with the International Space Station (ISS) itself. Caron, focusing on the Canadian contributions to ISS, emphasized that the robotic operations of 2026 are something we had little insight into when the station was first being envisioned.
“The things we do with our robotic systems right now on the space station, there’s no way we could have imagined that we’d be doing such versatile and richest things,” Caron said – talking about aspects such as Canadarm2 being able to berth visiting vehicles to the station, which it was not designed for. “So being able to build agility, flexibility in our approach is very important. And that’s how we are such an excellent partner for other countries.”
Canada’s work in space, however, goes beyond robotic systems, he said. This includes decades of investment in lunar rover technology (which is in large part due to Government of Canada stimulus funding in demo rovers in the wake of the 2008 recession).
To be sure, not all Canadian rover projects are going forward as CSA cancelled a small science rover that was expected to fly on a Firefly Aerospace lander in 2029. CSA did, however, maintain in fiscal 2026-27 funding for a larger Lunar Utility Vehicle in support of Artemis missions that is expected to fly in 2033 – and it was this rover that Caron focused on in his comments as an example of other things CSA and its industry partners do.
The Lunar Utility Vehicle program already has preparatory contracts out to MDA Space, Canadensys Aerospace and Mission Control ahead of prime contractor selection. The mission, aims to allow for astronauts to have a flexible, sturdy cargo cart on the surface in support of lunar operations.
That work is years ahead, but it’s a short timeline in terms of engineering, funding and effort. With the Artemis 2 mission highlighting Canadian work in space, Caron added, “right now we have an ability to shine a light on a lot of those efforts, a lot of those initiatives, and remind not just Canadians, but also our partners how far we’ve come.”
More generally, with Artemis 2 making international headlines, what this means is that Canada has an opportunity to remind those watching that “it’s a historic moment and it establishes Canada as a capable, reliable, and competent partner.”
Caron allowed that with six or seven years between typical Canadian space missions to the ISS, “sometimes people forget about the importance of space for Canada.” Adding complexity, CSA astronaut Josh Kutryk was supposed to fly to the ISS in 2026 with the NASA-led Boeing Starliner-1, but the mission has been changed to the third robotic test of the program following numerous issues with the Crew Flight Test of 2024-25. Caron said Kutryk’s flight assignment to the ISS is still on, and that Kutryk will be flying at some point.
In the meantime, the CSA focus is on completing Artemis 2 and using that to continue spreading a message about flexibility and readiness to the space community. “We have one of our patriots flying – and for this time, it is sort of defining,” Caron said. “We talk about an Apollo generation that might take off an Artemis generation. We really want to make sure to catalyze on that and allow people to participate in this voyage.”