Canada will land instrument on Mars to study weather (Forwarded)

Canadian Space Agency
St. Hubert, Quebec

October 27, 2005

Canada will land instrument on Mars to study weather

Toronto, Ontario -- The Canadian Space Agency announced
a final contribution of $6 million [USD 5.1 million] to Canadian firm
MDA Space Missions to build a fully integrated weather station, known
as MET, for the 2007 launch of NASA's Phoenix Lander Mission to
Mars. Phoenix will study climate at the Red Planet's northern
latitudes, the geological history of water, and the potential of the
soil to support life.

As an innovative application of lidar, one of Canada's advanced space
technologies, the Canadian weather station will be the first ever to
have operated from the surface of another planet.

"Canada has an exciting role in the international Mars expedition and
our scientific and industrial space expertise gains recognition by
contributing this key experiment," remarked Dr. Vicky Hipkin, Program
Scientist for Planetary Exploration at the Canadian Space Agency. "MET
will assist in the Phoenix mission's study of water. Discoveries about
the severe weather on Mars are very important to future manned missions
to the planet."

MDA Space Missions of Brampton, Ontario, is the prime contractor for the
MET station, which will include instruments to measure pressure and
temperature, and assess climate patterns in Mars' northern plains.
Optech Inc. of Toronto, Ontario, is providing lidar expertise to MDA as
a sub-contractor. The lidar instrument will analyze clouds, fog, and
dust plumes in the lower atmosphere. The Canadian science team is led by
the Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering at York
University.

"Landing close to the icy north polar cap in spring will let us study a
remarkable feature of the martian climate. Each spring a significant
mass of water ice sublimates from the polar cap forming seasonal ice
clouds," said Dr. Peter Taylor, Director of the program at York
University. "There are lots of questions about where this water ice
ends up and how stable the current ice cap is. Observing these clouds
and dust storm features with the Phoenix lidar will provide an exciting
new insight into these aspects of the climate of Mars."

The Canadian Space Agency is providing $19.5 million [USD 16.6 million]
for the design and building of the MET station for NASA's first Scout
Mission.

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For more information, please contact:

Canadian Space Agency
Media Relations
(450) 926-4370

York University
Media Relations
(416) 736-5585