The three-day Canadian Space Exploration Workshop (CSEW) wrapped on June 16 after attendees spent most of their time in breakout groups discussing what to do next in Canadian space exploration and science.
The main themes addressed in the workshop were cosmic origins, stellar and galaxy evolution, high-energy astrophysics and gravitational waves, exoplanets, astrobiology, planetary geology and geophysics, planetary space environment, planetary prospecting for resources and astronaut health.
Reporting on these various aspects will take many more months of consolidation and discussion, but a wrap-up session by the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Christian Lange provided an overview of Canadian space exploration planning informed by the workshop’s discussion.
Lange leads the CSA’s space exploration strategic planning group, which is responsible for planning Canada’s participation in future national and international space exploration missions.
To be sure, much already is happening on this front. A Canadian will fly aboard the Artemis 2 moon mission due to Canada’s contribution of Canadarm3, led by MDA. Future space station missions and lunar missions are also expected due to that next-generation contribution.
Moreover, Canada’s Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP) aims to put Canadian company science and engineering on the Moon alongside the lunar astronauts; separately, Canada is also working on a micro-rover that will bring even more engineering and science to the surface.
But as we wrote about a few days ago, international space is changing quickly due to new signatories rapidly accruing on the NASA-led Artemis Accords. Russia’s role in international space has diminished after its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February. Private space exploration is expanding quickly as well, with Axiom Space, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin all providing alternatives for spaceflight and research outside of government spacecraft.
Lange did not address all of these items, but did seek to reassure attendees that the CSA has listened carefully to all inputs at the workshop, that a technical report will be forthcoming based on everyone’s feedback, and that the CSA remains very active in planning space exploration.
“I think the takeaway is there’s a lot of opportunities out there,” he said, alluding to programs that might be available to Canadians in areas spanning from astronomy, to health, to exploration initiatives. The question though, as always, is “How do we get the funding to get our priorities exercised,” as he put it, but he said the workshop should be beneficial in getting the voices of Canadians heard during the government planning process.
Lange alluded to the 2018 final report following the last CSEW in 2016, which you can read about in a past SpaceQ report here.
The 189-page report is too comprehensive to summarize quickly (either by Lange or in this news story) but one theme that is important to Lange’s discussion is the overview section on space exploration noting that all sciences in this area are “big science,” meaning extensive (and expensive) infrastructure.
Astronomy, the 2018 report noted, is enhanced by access to space since that allows observations without the interference of Earth’s atmosphere. Planetary science probes “bring a dramatic increase in knowledge,” while bringing humans into space “presents physiological changes similar to aging, as well as an extreme environment for remote medicine relevant to delivery of health care in isolated Arctic communities.”
Compared with NASA, the CSA will likely always be more constrained in choosing priorities. The 2022-23 CSA Departmental Plan, for example, has planned spending set at $388.3 million for its fiscal year that began on April 1. CSA does partner closely with other government departments, along with industry, to harmonize priorities and to increase overall government spending where possible.
That said, $388.3 million for CSA is fairly comparable to NASA’s spending (in U.S. dollars) on a single technology demonstration mission: the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which launched in late 2021.
Moreover, NASA’s overall budget was $31 billion ($24 billion USD) in 2022. For comparison, that amount would be approaching 8% of Canada’s overall available revenues for government, expected to be at $409 billion ($316 billion USD) in 2022, according to Canadian budget documents. So the spending framework is very much different.
As always, however, Canada is pursuing a strategy of providing strategic technology to its partners with larger space budgets to, in a sense, borrow from infrastructure like spacecraft, space stations and launching vehicles through leveraged investments.
Lange re-emphasized that Artemis 2 will be “the big next thing” for Canada, and a great opportunity for space program visibility given that the lunar-orbiting mission (currently set for 2024) will be the first crewed visit to the Moon by any nation since Apollo 17’s landing in 1972.
Gateway, the space station upon which Canadarm3 will be used, will allow Canada a platform for continued space access for not only its scientists, but also any engineering or science experiments, Lange said. Canadian business needs will also be considered when allocating space for items upon this station, he added.
The Artemis Accords in which Canada was an early signatory, he noted, will continue to set the example for everything for the “safe and sustainable creation and use of public space,” which builds upon the foundational Outer Space Treaty of the United Nations that entered force among its signatories back in 1967.
Canada plans to continue its work with the International Space Station Coordination Group to harmonize its planning for human exploration with the major partners, Lange noted. It appears this group is also thinking ahead to Artemis, although again, that would be somewhat complicated as not all partners on the ISS (e.g. Russia) are partners in Artemis.
Lange said the question now is to think through priorities for sustainable infrastructure, asking what Canada should be contributing to and what Canada can do with its resources. New RFPs are coming out regularly with CSA, he noted, on space exploration initiatives and the hope is to demonstrate “the high-class science” Canadians are capable of in orbit and on the lunar surface.
While emphasizing that collaboration and “synergies” will still be the path forward for Canada, Lange hinted that one area of interest would be in-situ utilization, which was also discussed during the workshop.
Other strategic areas our country could consider include modular rovers, nuclear power, robotic arms (as always) and food production, as long as legal and regulatory challenges are met for these various items – especially nuclear, which is a very early project for CSA.
Food is being considered in part through the Deep Space Food Challenge, in partnership with NASA. Canada’s other major challenge, the Deep Space Healthcare Challenge, recently entered Phase 2 and Lange said the CSA will continue “further engagement activities with Canadian vendors and stakeholders,” to keep health care front of mind in planning.
As for the Canadian Space Exploration Workshop, a report is expected to be released eventually with the recommendations from the hundreds of attendees. CSA pledges this information will be used in future space planning to continue to build upon community priorities.