A New Frontier in Space Exploration

Canada needs to invest in a truly ambitious space project: the exploration of Mars.

I was saddened when Atlantis completed its final mission this summer. Despite its flaws, the U.S. space shuttle was an extraordinary machine. Those who witnessed a shuttle launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and saw it light up the sky as it thundered heavenward, were often moved to tears.

And now it’s over. The skies over the Florida coast will no longer host such spectacular events. For at least the next few years, astronauts will launch from Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Russian Soyuz rockets.

Read more about the retirement of the world's most famous spacecraft, Atlantis here.

Canada has enjoyed a partnership with NASA since the launch of our first satellite, Alouette 1, in 1962. As most Canadians know, that partnership also resulted in the Canadarm, as well as the larger and more capable Canadarm 2 and the two-armed Dextre robot aboard the ISS, not to mention 14 flights by eight Canadian astronauts. On the horizon, we have Col. Chris Hadfield, who will be the second Canadian to live aboard the Space Station for six months (after Bob Thirsk) and will be the first-ever Canadian station commander. Other Canadians will also live and work on the ISS. But what happens after that?

This may be a propitious time for Canada to examine its future in space with a thorough investigation of all its programs.

Planning space exploration, whether human or robotic, is complex and requires the vision and courage to believe that the near impossible can be achieved. The stakes are always high, and the timeline from idea to realization often spans more than a decade. So far, Canada’s record of success has been outstanding, both in building spacecraft and in human space exploration. Now, it’s time for Canada to make a bold move.

NASA astronaut Rob Garan is live-tweeting from space. Check it out here.

Ambitious space programs require public support and political will. Because such programs are complex and expensive, it makes sense for Canada to work in partnership with other countries, and we have done this successfully for five decades. This has allowed us to claim many “firsts” in space and, in the process, develop the world-class Canadian Space Agency, attract and train top-notch space scientists, and play a key role in a very competitive space industry.

There will always be people who believe that money spent on space is wasted money, perhaps forgetting that there is an invisible infrastructure of satellites orbiting over their heads, helping them to communicate, determine their relative positions on Earth, predict the weather, do their ATM banking, watch television, follow evolving disasters, and so on. And yes, a portion of what is spent on space is used to support human space exploration.

Currently, space is not fully exploited in terms of meeting Canada’s needs. There is much more we can, and should, do in the realms of advanced communications and Earth observation – areas in which we excel.

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I think Canada should also be audacious and commit to an ambitious and inspiring exploration project – specifically, a scientific mission to Mars, in which Canada would have principal responsibility for the spacecraft that would land on the surface and perform a series of scientific experiments chosen by our Canadian space scientists. This would necessitate a partnership with another space agency to launch us from Earth and take us safely to Mars.

Such a mission would answer important scientific questions, and could help lay some of the groundwork for a subsequent human mission to the Red Planet. Such a mission will occur one day and, hopefully, Canada will be a part of it.

Undertaking such a project would certainly test our resolve and ingenuity. Technically and scientifically, it would, if successful, place Canada among the great space-faring nations, and could also galvanize the country in a moment of great pride.

Photo courtesy of Reuters.