ARCHIVED - Canadian Space Agency

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Section 5: Index

APXS
The Alpha-Particle-X-Ray-Spectrometer (APXS) is an instrument for the Mars Science Laboratory. The Canadian contribution will help scientists to determine the chemical composition of various soil, dust and rock samples on the planet.

Anik F2
The Anik F2, Telesat Canada's innovative, high-speed Ka-Band, multimedia telecommunications satellite is one of the largest, most powerful communications satellites ever built. It is designed to support and enhance North American voice, data, and broadcast services. Through its support of Anik F2, the Government of Canada has secured a Government Capacity Credit access worth $50 million over 11 years to support the connectivity for remote and underserved northern rural communities.

AQUARIUS
NASA's AQUARIUS mission is a focused satellite to measure global sea surface salinity (SSS). Scientific progress is limited because conventional in situ sampling is too sparse to give the global view of salinity variability that only a satellite can provide. AQUARIUS will resolve missing physical processes that link the water cycle, the climate, and the ocean.

BISE
The Bodies in Space Environment (BISE) experiment measures the relative contributions of internal and external cues to self-orientation before, during and after microgravity exposure. The project aims to better understand the importance of different types of cues in the neurological process that tell astronauts which way is "up" in a microgravity environment. Illusions and other phenomena could interfere with routine operational processes as well as emergency procedures on platforms such as the International Space Station (ISS).

BLAST
In June 2005, a team of researchers from Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Mexico has launched the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-millimetre Telescope (BLAST) to probe the heavens to identify starburst galaxies and enabling researchers to study the formation and evolution of stars, galaxies and star clusters.

CADC/HUBBLE
The Canadian Astronomy Data Center (CADC) is a data archiving and access facility to support science done by Canadian astronomers and to contribute to international astronomy research. CADC archives astronomical images and data from major ground based observatories, from CSA missions as well as from the Hubble Space Telescope.

CAMBIUM
The objective of the CAMBIUM experiment is to determine the role of gravity in the formation of "tension wood" forming after tilting or looping of the stem. The experiment has implications for fundamental plant responses to gravity and to the understanding and potential control of tension wood formation, which is important to the forestry industry.

CASSIOPE
The Cascade Demonstrator, Smallsat Bus and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE) is a small hybrid satellite that includes the telecommunication instrument Cascade, which will provide the very first digital broadband courier service for commercial use, and the scientific payload enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (ePOP), which will be used to study the ionosphere.

CCISS
The experiment Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Control on return from ISS (CCISS) will study cardiovascular and cerebrovascular adaptations to microgravity to improve astronaut function and capacities upon return into planetary gravity.

CGSM
The Canadian GeoSpace Monitoring (CGSM) system is a Canadian network of ground-based instruments to monitor and study geomagnetic activity near Earth, as well as space weather. It includes high-frequency radars, sky imagers, computer models and data portals located across the country. Canada is especially vulnerable to the effects of space weather and solar storms and CGSM provides data, knowledge and information to protect critical and expensive space and ground communication and navigation assets from space weather.

CHENSS
The Canadian High Energy Neutron Spectrometry System (CHENSS) will increase scientific understanding of the high-energy neutron spectrum in space. This will help understand and plan mitigations for radiation risk to astronauts during long term space missions.

Chinook
Chinook is the Canadian-led atmospheric Research Satellite Mission that will be carrying two experiments: Stratosphere Wind Interferometer For Transport studies (SWIFT) and Atmosphere Research with GPS Occultation (ARGO). This mission will increase our understanding of our atmosphere and will lead to advances in weather and climate prediction models that are key tools to provide answers on the health of the ozone layer and climate change.

CIMEX
The Convection and Interfacial Mass Exchange (CIMEX) experiment will investigate fundamental and applied aspects of mass transfer through fluid interfaces (mainly evaporating liquids). Improved understanding of this process can be achieved through microgravity experiments because of the lack of convection. The results can be applied to heat-exchange pipe design and design of evaporators.

CloudSat
CloudSat will be doing the first comprehensive three-dimensional study of clouds. It will gather data on their structure, frequency and volume, and will help improve our understanding of how they influence the weather. It will use a radar hyperfrequency device to probe the cloud cover.

CRYSYS
CRYSYS is a multi-year project of Environment Canada that focuses on using existing and new sensors such as AMSR, Cryosat and ICESat to address cryosphere / climate / hydrological issues for monitoring and understanding the cryosphere in Canada (snow, ice, permafrost and glaciers).

ELERAD
The ELERAD study will assess radiation damage on long duration flights. A genetically engineered strain of C. elegans worms is currently on board the ISS to test if it can be used as a biological dosimeter. Upon return, the worms will be analyzed to assess the genetic alterations caused by radiation in Low Earth Orbit. The experiment will be carried out in a scientific/educational mission sponsored by NASA and the Malaysian Space Agency.

eOSTEO
The goal of the eOSTEO mission is to better understand the fundamental causes of bone loss in microgravity using an automated cell culture system. The eOSTEO is made of three Canadian experiments to study how bone cells in microgravity react to signals that increase and decrease bone formation; whether microgravity compromises bone cell architecture; and whether a hormone that promotes bone creation can, in weightless conditions, prevent the death of cells that build bone. Applications of the research are expected for development of better treatments for osteoporosis on Earth and during long duration space missions.

ESA-ADM/Aeolus
The Atmospheric Dynamics Mission (ADM) is a European Space Agency (ESA) Explorer Core mission, which will probe the lowermost 30 km of the atmosphere from 400 km above the Earth's surface using a high power Doppler wind lidar. The measured data will improve the accuracy of numerical weather forecasting and advance our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and processes relevant to climate variability and modeling.

ESA-Cryosat
Cryosat will measure changes in the sea-ice thickness and variations in snow depth to better understand the influence that climate change is having on the Earth's polar ice masses. It is one of six missions being developed under ESA Earth Explorer Opportunity mission.

ESA - EarthCARE
The ESA Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) mission is being implemented in cooperation with JAXA (Japanese Space Agency). The payload consists of instruments for measuring clouds (Cloud Profiling Radar and multispectral imager) and aerosol properties (atmospheric lidar), and a broadband radiometer to measure top-of-the atmosphere radiances and fluxes.

ESA- ENVISAT
ENVISAT, is the European Space Agency's (ESA) most ambitious Earth Observation (EO) satellite, which was launched successfully in 2002. It carries a suite of 10 instruments including an Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), scatterometer, altimeter, and passive optical instruments for atmospheric chemistry, ocean and sea surface temperature observations. There are 28 Canadian scientific teams currently participating in exploiting the data, and its mission duration has been extended to 2013.

ESA-ERS-2
ESA Earth Observation satellite was launched in 1995 and is carrying similar set of instruments as the ENVISAT satellite. It is still operating and providing useful data to many scientific teams. Canada participated in development of the satellite for ERS-1 and ERS-2. This participation also played an important role in the building of Canadian RADARSAT-1.

ESA-GOCE
The ESA Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission is dedicated to measuring the Earth's gravity field and modeling the geoid with unprecedented accuracy and spatial resolution. This mission will advance our knowledge of ocean circulation, which plays critical role in energy exchanges, sea level change and Earth interior processes. GOCE will also make significant advances in the field of geodesy and surveying.

ESA-Sentinel-1
The Sentinel-1 mission is being built under ESA Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program. Its payload consists of a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) (Similar to RADARSAT-2) to provide operational data continuity beyond existing C-band SAR.

ESA-SMOS
The ESA Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission objective is to measure soil moisture and ocean salinity using a novel technique of aperture synthesized radiometry in L-band. The measures will be used for weather/climate prediction.

ESA-Swarm
The ESA Swarm mission is a constellation of three satellites that will provide high-precision and high-resolution measurements of the strength and direction of the Earth magnetic field. Canada is providing an Electric Field Instrument (EFI).

FPEF
The Fluid Physics Experiment Facility (FPEF) is installed on the ISS. Its objective is to collect important experimental data on the role of a liquid bridge in material solidification, an important system used in semiconductor manufacturing. The role of gravity complicates industry's understanding of this system on Earth, and different inserts will allow researchers to study various liquids and liquid bridge dimensions.

FUSE
NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) mission terminated in October 2007 after nine successful years of operations. Canadian scientists have obtained the data in exchange of the CSA contributing the Fine Error Sensors to the telescope.

Herschel/Planck
The Herschel Space Observatory will help scientists determine how early galaxies formed and evolved. The observatory has three instruments and Canada is contributing to two of them: the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared (HIFI) and the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE). Planck is a European Space Agency medium-sized mission that will be launched with the Herschel Space Observatory. It is a survey instrument that will map the entire sky. Canada is involved mainly in the development of Quick Look Analysis software and Real Time Analysis software for scientific checkout of the data at early stages.

H-Reflex
It is Canada's first International Space Station (ISS) science experiment. It studies the effect of space travel on our nervous system.

ICAPS
The Interactions of Cosmic and Atmospheric Particles (ICAPS) experiment will study, the interactions of cosmic and atmospheric particle systems under microgravity conditions. ICAPS has applications to particle physics, atmospheric science, and planetary science

ICE-First
The project ICE-First focuses on genetic repair mechanisms using C. elegans, a small worm widely used for genetics research. Half of C. elegans' genes have human counterparts. This worm can also mate, reproduce and develop normally during space flight, making it an ideal subject to study the effects of space travel on living organisms. The project will measure the amount of radiation, its effects on genes, and to eventually develop a biological radiation dosimeter for measuring how much damage radiation causes to living cells on long flights.

ISS
The International Space Station (ISS) is the most ambitious engineering project ever undertaken by humanity. Canada is contributing the Mobile Servicing System (MSS), a space robotics system astronauts use to assemble, maintain the ISS. The MSS consists of three main elements: the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), known as Canadarm2, the Mobile Base System (MBS), and the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM), known as Dextre.

IVIDIL
The Influence of Vibration on Diffusion in Liquids (IVIDIL) experiment will help understand and acknowledge the effects of vehicle vibration on microgravity experiments on double diffusion. Double molecular and thermal diffusion often occurs in hydrocarbon reservoirs, making assessment of reservoir composition difficult. Microgravity experiments can improve such assessments.

JWST
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a joint mission involving NASA, ESA, and the CSA. This major facility-class space observatory will be a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The JWST will be used to observe targets that range from objects within our Solar System to the most remote galaxies, which are seen during their formation in the early universe.

Matroshka-R
The Matroshka-R experiment investigates how much radiation different organs in the human body receive in space over prolonged periods of time. The data gained from Matroshka-R will be vital to estimate health risks to astronauts aboard the ISS and on longer space missions since the total radiation risk depends largely on the dose received by the internal organs. It will also increase understanding of the distribution of different types of radiation within the ISS and within the human body.

MIM/ATEN
The Microgravity Vibration Isolation Mount (MIM) is an ISS hardware that isolates experiments from on-board vibrations, providing a more "pure" microgravity. ATEN is used with the MIM Base Unit. It is a furnace designed to meet a wide range of scientific requirements on the ISS.

MOPITT
One of five instruments on NASA's Terra satellite, MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) contributes to our understanding of the sources and pathways of atmospheric pollutants.

MOST
The Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars (MOST) microsatellite is Canada's first space telescope launched in 2003. It measures tiny fluctuations in light intensity from stars, enabling scientists to probe star interiors seismically and to set a lower limit on the age of the Universe. MOST is also sensitive to the light variations caused by planets around other stars, giving us unique information about these distant worlds.

MVIS
Canada has developed key technology that will help isolate experiments from the harmful effects of these vibrations. The compact Canadian-built Microgravity Vibration Isolation Subsystem (MVIS) is a control system that is integrated into the European Space Agency's Fluid Science Lab protecting it from the daily shakes and trembles on board the ISS. It uses a magnetic field to suspend a container for experiments.

NEOSSat
The Near Earth Orbit/Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) is a joint CSA-DND mission. It is a combination of the Near Earth Space Surveillance (NESS) and the High Earth Orbit Surveillance (HEOS) projects. It will be used to observe the inner portion of the solar system to discover, track and study asteroids and comets, and will also be used to track satellites in high-Earth orbit to update the orbit parameters of known satellites flying over the Canadian territory.

NEQUISOL
The Non-equilibrium Solidification, Modeling for Microstructure Engineering of Industrial Alloys (NEQUISOL) study aims to use microgravity experiments to improve models of solidification of "under cooled" alloys, in order to better predict conditions required for the production of superior materials.

ORBITALS
The Outer Radiation Belt Injection, Transport, Acceleration, and Loss Satellite (ORBITALS) is a Canadian space physics mission that aims at studying the harsh space weather phenomena in the outer radiation belts. That part of space is intensely radioactive and experiences occasional severe storms that can damage expensive and critical space assets. Understanding and predicting the radiation phenomena in this part of near-earth space is also essential to support long-duration human space flights and robotic missions.

OSIRIS
ODIN Swedish satellite carries the Optical Spectrograph and Infra-Red Imaging System (OSIRIS). It measures the concentration of various gases in the stratosphere, thereby allowing our scientists to make a significant contribution to the global understanding of stratospheric ozone depletion processes.

PCW
The Polar Communications and Weather (PCW) mission is to put a constellation of satellites in highly elliptical orbit over the North Pole to provide communication services and monitor weather in the Arctic region. The CSA will complete the assessment of the requirements of the Canadian government users for a polar satellite system as part of a joint study with DND and Environment Canada.

Phoenix
The Phoenix Mars Lander will be the first mission to explore a polar region of Mars at ground level. Phoenix landed near Mars's northern polar cap on May 25, 2008, and will then spend 90 days probing Mars's soil and atmosphere to determine if the environment could be hospitable to life. Canada's contribution to Phoenix is a meteorological station that will record the daily weather using temperature, wind and pressure sensors, as well as a light detection and ranging instrument.

PMDIS
The Perceptual Motor Deficit in Space (PMDIS) experiment will demonstrate the cause of the hand-eye coordination dysfunction seen early in space missions and indicate countermeasures to reduce or eliminate the problem. PMDIS is the first experiment to use the ISS allocation rights.

PROBA
The Project On-Board Autonomy (PROBA) was launched in 2001, as a technology demonstration mission and it is now operating as an Earth Observation mission. PROBA performs autonomous guidance, navigation, control, onboard scheduling and payload resources management. Its payload includes a compact multi-spectral imager and high-resolution camera. PROBA also aims to use and demonstrate automatic functions, both onboard and in the mission ground segment.

RADARSAT-1
RADARSAT-1, Canada's first Earth Observation satellite is the only fully operational civilian remote sensing satellite that carries Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). This technology, contrary to optical sensor satellites, has the capacity to image day and night, in all weather conditions, regardless of cloud cover, smoke, haze and darkness. Launched in November 1995, RADARSAT-1 was meant to operate for five years. RADARSAT-1 has continued to supply SAR data to clients in its extended mission, now in the 13th year of operation.

RADARSAT-2
RADARSAT-2 was launched on December 14, 2007. RADASART-2 is a Canadian satellite from the next generation with its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology and the most advanced satellite of its kind in the world. It incorporates new capabilities that ensure Canada's continued leadership in the global marketplace for radar image data by leveraging the knowledge and experience gained through the long and successful RADARSAT-1 mission.

RADARSAT Constellation
The RADARASAT Constellation is the evolution of the RADARSAT Program with the objective of ensuring data continuity, improved operational use and improved system reliability over the next decade. The three-satellite configuration will provide complete coverage of Canada's land and oceans offering an average daily revisit at 50m resolution, as well as a significant coverage of international areas for Canadian and international users. It will also offer average daily access to 95% of the world.

SCCO
The Soret Coefficient in Crude Oil (SCCO) experiment will determine the diffusion coefficient of crude oil under microgravity conditions in order to improve extraction processes.

SCISAT
The Space Science Satellite (SCISAT) is Canada's first scientific satellite in 30 years. SCISAT focuses on polar ozone budget and dynamics but also contributes to measurements and modeling of mid latitude ozone and upper troposphere chemistry as well as Chlorinated Fluorocarbons' (CFC) greenhouse gases. SCISAT has continued to produce large volumes of very-high quality space data for climate, weather and pollution studies.

THEMIS
The THEMIS mission stands for "time history of events and macroscale interactions during substorms". The CSA is funding the participation of Canadian scientists in the NASA THEMIS mission comprised of a system of 5 satellites for the study of northern lights phenomena. THEMIS will help to pinpoint where in the magnetosphere the energy of the solar wind transforms explosively into auroras.

TRAC
The Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capability (TRAC) is to determine if the degradation of human manual skills during spaceflight occurs because the process of adaptation to spaceflight consumes a substantial portion of available computational resources in the brain, leaving fewer resources to carry out skilled manual actions. TRAC is carried out on the International Space Station (ISS).

UVIT-ASTROSAT
The ASTROSAT satellite is a Multi-wavelength Space Borne Observatory for carrying out astronomical research. The Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) aims to image selected parts of the sky in three distinct spectral regions (Far UV, Near UV and Visible) using two nearly identical telescopes. The CSA has agreed to provide to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) the Flight Detector Subsystem. Our participation in the mission ensures that Canadian astronomers have observation time on ASTROSAT, providing new opportunities for astronomical research and discoveries.

Vascular
The Cardiovascular health consequences of long-duration space flight (Vascular) project will investigate vascular inflammation occurring during space flight and support the development of countermeasures to improve astronaut health upon return to gravity.

WISE
The Women International Space Simulation for Exploration (WISE) study is to assess the roles of nutrition and combined physical exercise in countering the adverse effects of extended gravitational unloading through bed rest. Bed rest studies have been used for decades to reproduce on Earth the impact of weightlessness or weight unloading that is experienced by astronauts in orbit or during space flight. Results will prove valuable in planning long-duration human missions in space. This research will also have clinical significance on Earth, advancing knowledge and pointing to improved methods of assisting recovery by bedridden patients.

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