Canada is going to explore the Moon
The country will conduct a space mission with NASA and test advanced developments.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne said that Canada plans to land a lunar rover on the moon within the next 5 years. According to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the unmanned robot will collect images, data and take measurements on the surface of the Earth satellite.
The mission, planned for 2022, will be conducted in cooperation with NASA. The Canadian moon rover is expected to be able to make it through the entire lunar night, which lasts about two weeks and poses serious technical challenges due to darkness and extremely low temperatures. CSA will select two companies to develop the lunar rover and other instruments needed for the mission.
During the mission, Canada will seek to demonstrate the capabilities of its new navigation and computational technologies. Space-based Mission Control will use a state-of-the-art on-board computer with integrated artificial intelligence to identify and classify lunar geological objects, as well as test software that will send data to scientists in real time.
There are also plans to test a lightweight and energy-efficient 360-degree camera that will take panoramic images of the lunar surface, and a planetary navigation system similar to GPS technology on Earth. Canada has allocated $3 million CAD to test advanced technologies.
Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques is a contender for one of the four mission seats and may take part in a mission around the moon. Also in December, Canada signed an agreement with the United States to send a Canadian astronaut on a mission around the Moon as part of a major project to build a new space station.
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