Tag Archives: Mars

The 2018 Humans to Mars Report was released last week at the annual Human to Mars Summit held in Washington, DC. The report reinforced a notional date of 2033 for the first humans to Mars mission.

The Canadian Space Agency has awarded three contracts to universities related to last years Space Exploration Science Maturation Study and a robotic technology contract to MDA.

Space mining is an idea that used to be just a concept. Now companies, small and large, are working towards the goal of setting up mining operations on the moon and asteroids.

The International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) has released the third iteration of its Global Exploration Roadmap with some important changes including the moon as an important step and the increased role of the private sector.

The goal of sending Humans to Mars has been a driving force for many in the space community for decades. In 1949 Dr. Wernher von Braun, who was instrumental in developing the U.S. rocket program, published the seminal book, Project Mars, a Technical Tale. As recently as last year, NASA was marketing an eventual human mission to Mars as the Journey to Mars.

Future space explorers are now one step closer to surviving in the harsh vacuum of outer space. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), a privately-built prototype expandable module built by American-based Bigelow Aerospace and currently attached to the International Space Station (ISS), has been renewed by NASA to at least 2020.

My guest this week is none other than my business partner Keith Cowing. Keith and I co-founded SpaceRef 18 years ago.

While the International Space Station will still be used until at least 2024 what comes next? That discussion has been ongoing within the space community for some time. The use of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for business and research is only going to increase. National space agencies though are looking beyond LEO for the next challenge including cislunar exploration.

In this podcast episode I welcome back Wayne Ellis, a space and defence consultant with AppSpace Solutions of Winnipeg, and a past president of the Canadian Space Society.

In the recently announced budget the government had announced $80.9 million in new funding for the Canadian Space Agency over five years. We now know a little more about the projects the funds will go to.