Canadian Space Agency awards contract for Mars exploration technologies

September 22, 2010 - The Canadian Space Agency has awarded a contract valued at $6 million (CAD) to MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) to develop a terrestrial prototype of a science rover for Mars exploration.

The investment is part of the Government of Canada's 2009 Economic Action Plan and aims to accelerate the development of technologies for space exploration.

MDA will design, build and test a semi-autonomous rover prototype that can be commanded from a remote location. The rover will be equipped with vision systems and detectors for navigation and will provide the interfaces for hosting a small robotic arm and upcoming sciences and payloads. It will be ready for field testing in 2012.

Prototypes like the Mars exploration and science rover are used to demonstrate end-to-end operations of rovers and their payloads in realistic terrestrial field tests, reproducing key conditions of space missions.

The project will position Canada as a potential partner in international space exploration missions, and maintain Canadian technical expertise in space robotics.

The technologies developed for the rover could also have several Earth-based applications in areas like the mining, transportation and security industries.

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Canadian Space Agency awards contract for Mars exploration technologies