Canada Seeks to Rove Beyond the Space Station

LONGUEUIL, Quebec With two flicks of the wrist, Simon Rocheleau sent a lunar rover spinning in the dirt.

The Juno rover prototype operated by a remote control in Rocheleau's hand was skidding here at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) headquarters Mars Yard, a backyard playground of dirt and rocks where robots can simulate missions to the Red Planet.

At the Mars Yard, university students regularly take rovers out for a spin to learn how operators perform similar work on Mars and, perhaps one day, the moon. [Photo Tour: Canadian Space Agency Headquarters]

"They learn some of the thought processes of the scientists, and how they go about selecting targets," Rocheleau, a member of the CSA's robotics and engineering group, told a visiting group of journalists from the Canadian Science Writers' Association on June 6.

Rovers like Juno could play a prominent role in the future of the CSA, which is looking beyond the expiration of its commitment to the International Space Station in 2020. Although Canada could remain active on the station project long beyond that date, the agency is cultivating its options. Rovers and robotics appear to be among the most promising directions, officials said.

Stimulating robotics and rovers

In 2009, the CSA received a onetime boon from the federal government: 110 million Canadian dollars ($108 million) in stimulus funding to develop promising space technologies. By inviting the private sector to bid for contracts, the agency hoped to assist struggling companies until other business picked up again.

Most of that funding went to two projects: one to develop a successor to the Canadarm series of robotic arms used on the space station and space shuttle, and another to create rover prototypes. Both of those projects were finished in 2012, and the agency is now shopping for buyers of the technology.

External money will likely be needed for further development, as the agency's budget has been dropping steadily. The Canadian federal government, conscious of the deficit racked up in the wake of the recession, has been slashing more and more money from many of its departments to address the gap.

Next year, the CSAs budget could fall to as low as CA$258 million to CA$260 million ($253 million to $255 million). In comparison, the agency's budget for 2013-2014 is about CA$309.7 million ($304 million), down 20 percent from 2012-2013.

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Canada Seeks to Rove Beyond the Space Station