The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has taken the first procurement step towards getting a rover on the Moon. It was expected, but for those with a long memory, the seeds of this procurement started at the first Canadian Space Exploration Workshop held in 1998.
So what is the first step? Simply put, the CSA is looking for Letters of Interest (LOI) from the various stakeholders. It’s the official opportunity for stakeholders, whether individual organizations or teams, to declare their interest. That’s about it. Oh, and it’s not mandatory to submit an LOI to participate in future request for proposals (RFP).
The LOI is part of the Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP) that was announced in early 2019 and has $150 million in funding over five years.
By this point organizations have had several years to prepare for the forthcoming Phase A RFP. This LOI is due by January 29, 2021. However, the RFP is scheduled sometime between now and the end of March. So it’s possible the RFP comes out before the LOI closes.
Leading up to this LOI was an update by the CSA to the community and hosted by SATCAN on September 21. The presentations are available on the SATCAN website. Of note from that update was the fact that Canada was going to partner with the U.S. this robotic lunar mission. The rover must have at least two payloads, one Canadian and the other American. NASA will fund the American payload and there won’t be any funds exchanged between the two organizations. So why bring in the Americans? Well, Canada is going to hitch a ride on of their Commercial Lunar Payload Services launches.
The micro-rover will need to weigh under 30 kg with 6 kg allocated to the scientific payloads. The launch is planned no earlier than fall of 2024. The rover would have the following objectives:
- The primary objective it to demonstrate Canadian lunar mobility technology on the Moon.
- The secondary objective is to gather science data at different locations including reconnaissance for future human landing sites. The rover will land at a polar location, still to be decided.
The nominal mission duration is 42 (Earth) days, 1.5 lunar cycles.
“The proposed procurement strategy is being shared for planning purposes only and is subject to change at any time. A competitive RFP for the lunar rover Phase A studies is being planned for release in the Winter of 2020/2021. The plan is to conduct two Phase A contracts in parallel, leading to a down-selection of one rover concept at the end of the Phase A for the subsequent follow-up project phases. It is expected that each bidder would be composed of Canadian industries and scientists along with an American instrument team (e.g. industries and scientists as needed) to offer an integrated product, i.e. a lunar rover with its complete instrument suite.”
Once the RFP is issued, the Phase A contract would be awarded sometime next summer.