Canada on Mars in 2004 (Forwarded)

Mars Society of Canada

Contact:
Erin Farbar
Media Liaison for the Mars Society of Canada
(905) 331-2579,

July 29, 2003

CANADA ON MARS IN 2004

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- Canadian engineers and scientists are playing an
increasingly important role in the search for water and life on Mars. Two
missions with Canadian-made components are now en route to the Red Planet, and
more ambitious Canadian involvement may ensue in 2007 and 2009.

An international fleet of landers and orbiters has been dispatched to our
neighbor planet, designed to uncover the mysterious past of this most Earth-like
of worlds. Recognizing past Canadian expertise in a number of engineering and
scientific disciplines, the international community has engaged Canada's
cutting-edge research and design capabilities to participate in the exploration
of the Red Planet. A world that conceals clues to the cosmic history of life and
planetary climates, Mars possesses keys to questions in emerging scientific
fields that cannot be found on Earth.

The two recently-launched NASA rovers, dubbed "Spirit" and "Opportunity", carry
sophisticated cameras for the study and safe navigation of Mars' forbidding
terrain. The rover's three navigation cameras use image sensors fashioned by the
Bromont, Québec division of DALSA Corporation (Waterloo, Ontario). Upon landing
in early 2004, these optics will be central to the most sophisticated colour
imaging systems ever sent to another world, and will enable NASA to guide the
rover in its daily traverses.

Canada is also involved in the latest wave of exploration on the research front.
The Japanese orbiter Nozomi, also to arrive in early 2004, carries the Thermal
Plasma Analyzer (TPA), wholly designed and built in Canada. Professor Andrew Yau
of the University of Calgary, TPA Principal Investigator, hopes that the
analyzer's studies of the Martian atmosphere will provide clues to the presence
of water in the distant past, and explain the planet's transformation into
today's tantalizing desert world.

Capitalizing on this pedigree, Canadian space scientists and engineers have been
able to compete with the best in the world. In 2007, NASA intends to launch the
"Scout" mission to Mars. The design process of Scout was open to competitive
bids by international teams, and NASA received 25 flight proposals. Of these,
the US space agency selected four proposals for serious consideration, and two
of the bids -- MARVEL and Phoenix -- include Canadian involvement.

The Canadian space program began with the study of Earth's atmosphere and
magnetic environment, and the nation's excellence in this field continues to be
recognized. At the head of a research consortium of several Canadian
universities is Professor James Drummond of the University of Toronto, Principal
Investigator in the Canadian component of the MARVEL mission. If selected,
MARVEL will analyze the Martian atmosphere down to the smallest constituents,
thus uncovering evidence of possible biological activity.

With established relationships in providing space hardware to NASA, Optech
Incorporated (Toronto, Ontario) and its industrial partner MD Robotics
(Brampton, Ontario) were invited to collaborate in the Phoenix Scout proposal.
Phoenix would land on the polar plains of Mars to examine newly-discovered water
ice deposits for signs of life and clues to the planet's past. Principal
Investigator and York University Professor Emeritus Allan Carswell's pioneering
experience in developing laser remote-sensing enables Optech and MDR to
contribute this Canadian-derived technology to Phoenix, allowing the lander to
examine the layers of the Martian atmosphere.

Future Canadian participation in Mars missions could be greater still. NASA
called upon the Canadian Space Agency to provide up to three essential
components to the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory, perhaps NASA's most ambitious
robotic mission ever. Two of these instruments would help fulfill the mission's
lofty science goals, and one would be essential to the survival of the mission.

* The Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (Sudbury, Ontario) has turned
Canadian Shield mining acumen into the "Canadrill", a device capable of
penetrating 2 metres into the Martian surface -- deeper than any competing
device. The Canadrill, which has already produced marketable spin-off
technologies for Canadian mining, would be a lightweight "dry drill",
revolutionizing drilling operations in space and promising to augment mining
capabilities on Earth.

* To ensure the drill's effective operation and its ability to reach designated
targets, MD Robotics would provide a sample acquisition and processing
apparatus. Building upon the principles learned in constructing the
world-renowned Canadarm, the rover "arm" would operate reliably on the Martian
surface for a year, enabling the examination of dozens of samples.

* Before these instruments would operate on the surface, however, the rover
would be guided to an extremely safe and precise landing by another device
pioneered, designed and built by Canadians. As the recognized world leader in
"LIDAR" technology, Optech Incorporated would provide a "laser radar" technology
called LAPS to direct the lander to a safe location as it rapidly descends
toward the Martian surface. This innovative device was developed in association
with the Canadian Space Agency and would be built in collaboration with MD Robotics.

Yet these prospects are now in peril. The Mars Society of Canada, as part of a
coalition of student and space advocacy groups recognizing Canada's wealth of
expertise, has embarked on a campaign to inform the public of our nation's
scientific and technological prowess, its economic benefits and its relevance to
our understanding of the Earth. The 2003 federal budget contained none of the
funds necessary to pursue the Canadian Space Agency's newly planned Mars
involvement. The Mars Society, in collaboration with the Canadian Space Society,
the Carleton University Mechanical and Aerospace Society, and the Students for
the Exploration and Development of Space, has therefore initiated a petition,
urging the Canadian government to support the nation's burgeoning space research
and technology sector.

NOTE: MD Robotics, Optech Incorporated, the Northern Centre for Advanced
Technology, DALSA Corporation and all its subsidiaries, the University of
Calgary, and the University of Toronto, and all referenced institutions in no
way endorse the aforementioned petition campaign. The Mars Society of Canada is
not associated with any of the aforementioned institutions.

ABOUT THE MARS SOCIETY

Incorporated in 2000, the Mars Society of Canada is a non-profit organization
dedicated to advancing the study and eventual settlement of Mars. With a "Mars
analogue" simulation base on Devon Island, Nunavut, the Mars Society has been at
the forefront of analogue studies that benefit the environmental understanding
of both Earth and Mars. The Society exists both to educate and excite Canadians
about the prospects for a new frontier that they can help shape, and to relate
this limitless future to the present.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

* Mars Society of Canada
http://www.marssociety.ca/
* Canadian Space Society
http://www.css.ca/
* Carleton University Mechanical and Aerospace Society
http://www.cmas.carleton.ca/
* Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
http://watserv1.uwaterloo.ca/~seds/

The Mars Exploration Rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" were built, managed and
operated for the NASA Office of Space Science by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
a division of the California Institute of Technology,
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer/

The European Space Agency launched the Mars Express mission which has the
British Beagle2 lander on board,
http://www.beagle2.com/index.htm

Nozomi was built, launched and operated by the Institute of Space and
Astronautical Science of Japan,
http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missi...omi/index.html

All of these missions will arrive at Mars around the end of December 2003. This
winter will see a focus on Mars exploration like we've never seen before.