NASA’s next moon mission will be getting a (literal) hand from a Canadian company.
What happened: The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) granted homegrown robotics developer MDA Space a $1 billion contract to continue developing its Canadarm3 system, a large robotic arm that will be Canada’s central contribution to NASA’s next trip to the moon.
- The arm will be used to maintain and repair the Gateway space station, help astronauts on their spacewalks, and capture other visiting spacecraft.
- The investment is part of Ottawa’s larger $8.6 billion push to grow Canada’s space industry as a new race to get boots onto the moon picks up.
Catch-up: One of the main reasons countries are itching to get (back) to the moon is the improved prospect of lunar mining after the discovery of water on its surface. The idea of space mining has since become a question of when it will be possible, not if.
- Astrophysicist Joseph Silk wrote in a 2022 article that mining the moon’s raw materials is the only real long-term solution to Earth’s dwindling resources.
Why it matters: Canada could become a central player in the sci-fi-sounding industry, especially as the government and Canadian companies invest billions in space R&D. The CSA is already funding two companies specifically researching space mining tech.—LA