After years of industry insiders calling for clearer direction in Canada’s space program, on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. MT Science Minister Navdeep Bains will unveil Canada’s new space strategy.
The announcement, from the Telus World of Science in Edmonton, in front of children from Grades 1 to 6, is hot on the heels of last week’s revelation by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Canada will participate in the NASA-led Lunar Gateway program, a space station that will orbit the moon. Construction is slated to begin in 2020.
There has been strong criticism for some time by people in the space industry calling for a more robust and focused space program, particularly with the arrival of other countries on the scene.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces Canada will take part in an international lunar space station project, at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters in St. Hubert, Que., on Feb. 28. On Wednesday, Science Minister Navdeep Bains will reveal Canada’s new space strategy. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)
China has been to the moon twice, including January’s landing of Chang’e 4 on the far side of the moon, a first. India sent a spacecraft to Mars called the Mars Orbiter Mission. It plans on sending another in 2022. Israel launched a moon lander, Beresheet atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 that is slated to arrive in April.
Last week’s announcement committed $2.05 billion over 24 years for Canada’s space program, and was kicked off with news that MDA will construct a robotic arm for Lunar Gateway.
Despite industry criticism, Canada is highly regarded in the aerospace community.
It was the third country, after the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, to launch a satellite into space, Alouette 1 in 1962; the lunar landing legs on the Apollo missions to the moon were made made by Heroux-Devtek in Quebec; the Canadarm built the International Space Station; and there are Canadian-made instruments on Mars, including on the Curiosity rover which continues to roam the Red Planet and OSIRIS-REx, a sample-return mission around the asteroid Bennu.
from Update Trend News https://ift.tt/2tSW3T7
0 Comments