A Canadian Martian Scientific Wish List
Participants at the 3rd Canadian Space Exploration Workshop (CSEW) had the happy task on
Saturday of putting together a wish list of scientific objectives for a
Canadian program of Mars exploration.
On Friday night, Canadian Space Agency Executive Vice President Marc Garneau
had surprised the space sciences community by announcing his intention to see
Canada become a major player in the international Mars research scene. Calling
on researchers to be bold and to ‘think big,’ Garneau made his announcements
on the 40th anniversary of US President John F. Kennedy’s famous ‘put a man
on the moon’ speech. The announcement also came with the promise of funding
that will be “an order of magnitude greater” than what exists currently,
putting the budget in the hundreds of millions range.
After a brief morning plenary session, the country’s leading space scientists
and engineers broke up into workshop groups, and returned by mid-afternoon to
make presentations. Several different ideas and potential mission scenarios
were suggested. Small bodies researchers would be interested in flying a
mission to the Martian moons Phobos or Deimos, either to conduct research from
orbit or perhaps to do some sort of sample return. Atmospheric scientists
presented a potential instrumentation package that would help them answer
fundamental questions about the Martian atmosphere.
Canadian advanced life support scientists, who are focused on longer term
goals like supporting manned missions to Mars or other destinations beyond
low Earth orbit, are positioning themselves to become world leaders in this
type of research. They’re hoping that any near term missions will bring them
more data on the Martian environment so that they can create more accurate
simulations.
Solid planetologists and astrobiologists, meanwhile, suggested several
variations on a rover/drilling platform scenario, which could see data
extraction take place down to a depth of as much as twenty meters. Terrestrial
analog researchers hope to see a networking and expansion of existing analog
stations, to allow for further research on the logistics of exploration in
harsh and remote environments, and to provide Mars-like testing facilities
for other scientists.
The task ahead of the Canadian space exploration community is daunting, to say
the least. In order to be ready for the next available Mars launch windows –
in 2007 and 2009 – CSA and its stakeholders must make several decisions and
start building next year. Agreements must be struck between Canada and its
eventual partners; these could be relatively simple, like launching
arrangements, or they could be more complex, and include shared mission
objectives and hardware exchange.
Personnel availability is also a key issue. While there seems to be no
shortage of expertise in Canada, there may be an overall manpower shortage
when it comes to the actual grunt work of designing, building, testing and
operations, as well as post-mission data analysis. As well, many researchers
are used to working in three year funding cycles, so adjusting to new
timelines may be difficult.
That being said, however, officials at the CSA seemed to be pleased with the
results of CSEW, and participants themselves left the meeting feeling
cautiously optimistic. Not only has the Agency declared its intentions to
ramp up space sciences in Canada with the Mars initiative, it has reiterated
its desire to follow through with non-Mars missions as well.
“The plan is to put Canada at the forefront of space exploration,” said Alain
Berinstain, CSA Program Scientist.
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