As humanity gears up for its historic return to the Moon, the Canadian Space Agency is investing $5.5 million in homegrown technology to tackle one of deep space’s most invisible and lethal threats: cosmic radiation.
Awarded to Ontario’s Bubble Technology Industries (BTI), the contract will fund the Canadian Active Neutron Spectrometer (CANS) a next-generation, real-time radiation tracker that promises to keep Artemis astronauts safe while potentially advancing targeted cancer treatments here on Earth.
The CSA said in a news release that “Radiation is one of the key challenges faced by astronauts living and working beyond the protective shield of Earth’s atmosphere. Neutron radiation, which constitutes about 30% of total radiation in space vehicles, is especially harmful because it can cause serious biological damage and requires specialized protective measures. As Canada and its international partners advance plans for missions to the Moon, and eventually Mars, understanding exposure levels becomes increasingly important.”
“Data collected by CANS will allow researchers to understand how neutron radiation affects astronauts during space missions of six months or more, supporting the development of better measures to reduce risks. Beyond space exploration, data generated by CANS has potential applications on Earth, including cancer therapy, radiation protection for aircrews, nuclear threat detection and public safety, as well as nuclear and particle physics research.”
BTI has been working on this technology since 2019 and have been awarded a series of contracts.
BTI’s CANS builds on previous work it did on the Radi-N and Radi-N2 bubble detectors on the International Space Station. CANS has the ability to collect more data and to do so autonomously, sending the data to researchers back on Earth.