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Searching the far side of the moon: Canadian rover to aid in hunt for frozen water – CBC.ca

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The Canadian lunar rover could soon help reveal the far side of the moon. 

The country’s first moon rover is set to put the Canadian Space Agency at the forefront of space exploration, helping in the global search for frozen water on the celestial body.

NASA says the moon takes about 27 days to complete a full rotation on its axis as it orbits earth, leaving the same side visible from the ground at all times. As a result, the far side remains little understood and unexplored.

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“That has always piqued everybody’s imagination: What is on the other side of the moon?” said Gordon Osinski, principal investigator for the Canadian Lunar Rover Mission.

Osinski’s Canadian team, along with international partners, is preparing to send a 30-kilogram rover to the south polar region of the moon in search of preserved frozen water, possibly a few meters below the surface and mixed into the soil.

Future of human missions

The discovery of ice could be a stepping-stone to further explorations of the solar system, including missions staffed by humans, said Chris Herd, a scientific investigator on the mission and University of Alberta planetary geologist.

Herd, who has previously worked on the Mars rover mission, said frozen water “can be extracted and used as a resource for the astronauts to survive.” He said the ice could also be split into hydrogen and oxygen for fuel, reducing the cost of bringing those supplies from Earth.

“It reduces the costs of sending humans to the moon [and] that’s the ultimate goal,” he said.

Osinski said there’s been renewed interest in moon exploration over the last five years, with more emphasis on sending astronauts back there.

The robot rover would play an integral part in realizing that dream, he added.

Christian Sallaberger, CEO of Canadensys Aerospace Corporation, said commercial expansion of the space industry is also playing a big role in reviving interest in revisiting the moon.

In November, Ottawa picked Canadensys to build the lunar rover and help with the scientific instruments meant to be shipped to the moon.

“The costs of the missions have come down, relatively speaking, to what they were in the past,” Sallaberger said. “In the ’60s, everything was government funded.”

The Ontario space company has been working in partnership with six Canadian universities and several international partners from the United States and the United Kingdom.

Canadensys would be building a robust rover that could handle extreme temperature swings — shifting from -200 C at night to more than 100 C during the day. It would also be able to tackle high radiation and jagged lunar surfaces while continuing to send data throughout the months it spends on the moon.

Working on solar power, the rover would go to sleep every 14 days and then work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until the next cycle.

Scientists will not only be looking for solid water, but would be investigating the composition of the moon’s rocky surface, characterizing the radiation environment and taking high-resolution images, Sallaberger said.

“[It’s] the preparation for future human missions that this rover would be doing,” he said.

‘Incredibly exciting’

While Canada won’t be the first country to make a landing on the far side of the moon, it could be the first to explore the south pole of Earth’s natural satellite, believed to hold ice water in the permanently shadowed craters.

China became the first country to send its rover, Yutu-2, to the far side of the moon in 2019.

Osinski said there could be other countries launching their rovers to the far side of the moon before Canada’s goes.

But he said it’s still “incredibly exciting.”

“I almost have to keep pinching myself at times,” he said. “It’s everything I’ve been working towards for the last couple of decades.”

Now, he hopes to see the launch of the rover in three years, mounted on top of a rocket — most likely to take off from NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“Then, a few weeks later, it would land on the surface of the moon. I can’t think of anything more exciting.”

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship, which is not involved in the editorial process.

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Media Advisory – Minister Champagne to announce the Canadian Space Agency astronaut who will fly around the Moon – Canada NewsWire

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LONGUEUIL, QC, March 29, 2023 /CNW/ –On Monday, April 3, at 10:00 a.m. CT (11:00 a.m. ET), the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, will join NASA and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) leadership in Houston to announce the names of the astronauts assigned to the Artemis II Moon mission.  

The event will be broadcast on NASA TV and streamed on the CSA’s YouTube channel and Facebook page (with simultaneous interpretation).

Media are also invited to join CSA President Lisa Campbell and the Honourable Marc Garneau, first Canadian to fly to space, at CSA headquarters for this historic event. CSA experts will be on site and available for interviews.

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All interview requests for the CSA astronaut assigned to Artemis II and/or CSA leadership and experts, in Canada or in Houston, must be coordinated with the CSA Media Relations Office (information below). Interview requests for Minister Champagne must be coordinated directly with his office.

Canada will make history when a CSA astronaut flies around the Moon as part of Artemis II, the first crewed mission to the Moon since the Apollo missions.

Event at NASA Johnson Space Center – Ellington Field

Monday, April 3, 2023

Time

What

Who

Where

10:00 a.m. CT

11:00 a.m. ET

Artemis II crew announcement event in Houston

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

 

CSA astronaut assigned to Artemis II

Ellington Field – Johnson Space Center

Hwy. 3 and Brantly; 12400 South Brantly Houston, TX 00000

The event will be broadcasted on NASA TV and streamed on the CSA’s YouTube channel and Facebook page

2:10 p.m.

CT

3:10 p.m. ET

Media callback

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

 

Members of the media are asked to contact ISED Media Relations at [email protected] to receive the dial-in information.


Event at CSA headquarters

Monday, April 3, 2023

Time

What

Who

Where

9:50 a.m. CT

10:50 a.m. ET

Artemis II crew announcement event, including NASA live broadcast, at the CSA

Lisa Campbell, CSA President

 

The Honorable Marc Garneau, retired CSA astronaut


Kumudu Jinadasa
, Program Lead, Astronauts, Life Sciences and Space Medicine

John H. Chapman Space Centre

6767 Route de l’Aéroport

Borough of St-Hubert

Longueuil, Quebec

J3Y 8Y9


More information
Canada’s role in Moon exploration

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Find more services and information at Canada.ca/ISED.

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SOURCE Canadian Space Agency

For further information: Canadian Space Agency, Media Relations Office, Telephone: 450-926-4370, Website: https://asc-csa.gc.ca/, Email: [email protected]; Laurie Bouchard, Communications Director, Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, [email protected], +1 343 574 8014; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, [email protected]

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Ice Age Squirrel Found in Canada! » Expat Guide Turkey – Expat Guide Turkey

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The remains of an Ice Age squirrel that was mummified to death during hibernation some 30,000 years ago have been found in Canada.

The 30,000-year-old animal found in the Klondike goldfields in 2018 will soon be on display in Whitehorse, Northern Canada.

Yukon paleontologists this week unveiled another unusual find from the gold fields near Dawson City: an Arctic squirrel that curled up and mummified as if it died during hibernation during the Ice Age.

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A Squirrel Mummy Found by Yukon Paleontologists at the Gold Field near Dawson City

The Ice Age squirrel was actually found a few years ago, but its announcement is now being made as the government is preparing the dead rodent for display at the Yukon in Whitehorse.

At first glance, this mummified animal looks like nothing more than a dried up pile of brown fur and skin.

Intact Bone Structure Detected Inside the Remains

Yukon government paleontologist Grant Zazula says, “It’s hardly recognizable until you see the tiny hands and claws, a little tail, and then the ears.” says.

“I’m always examining bones and these are very exciting. But when you see a perfectly preserved animal, especially if it’s 30,000 years old and you can see its face, its skin, its fur, it’s really special.”

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Apr 1: Tyrannosaur lips, bald eagles dine on beef, saving the orbital environment and more… – CBC.ca

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Quirks and Quarks54:02Tyrannosaur lips, bald eagles dine on beef, saving the orbital environment, how your fingerprints are built and how humans run on electricity


On this week’s episode of Quirks & Quarks with Bob McDonald:

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Tyrannosaurus rex had lips covering its terrifying teeth

Quirks and Quarks8:33Tyrannosaurus rex had lips covering its terrifying teeth

Many depictions of the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex show the dinosaur’s huge teeth as constantly exposed in a crocodilian smile. But a new study published in the journal Science concludes that theropod dinosaurs like the T. rex likely had scaly, lizard-like lips that covered their teeth completely when the dinosaur’s mouth was closed. Canadian paleontologist Dr. Thomas Cullen, a professor at Auburn University, and his co-authors analyzed wear patterns on tooth enamel of the dinosaurs, as well as jaw sizes, and compared them to modern-day animals. He said the T. rex mouth would have likely been most similar to that of a Komodo dragon.

Scientists and artists have developed two principal models of predatory dinosaur facial appearances: crocodylian-like lipless jaws or a lizard-like lipped mouth. New data suggests that the latter model, lizard-like lips, applies to most, or all, predatory dinosaur species. (Mark P. Witton)

Eagles are eating cows instead of salmon – and farmers are happy

Quirks and Quarks7:59Eagles are eating cows instead of salmon – and farmers are happy

In the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., bald eagles, which have historically fed on the carcasses of spawning chum salmon, have run short of their traditional food due to climate change and other factors. But a new study in the journal Ecosphere by Ethan Duvall, a PhD student in ecology at Cornell University, indicates the eagles have moved inland and are now scavenging cattle who have died on dairy farms. Farmers, it turns out, are happy with this, as it solves a troubling disposal problem, and because the eagles also displace rodents and other birds that do harm to the farms.

A bald eagle in flight against clouds in the blue sky
Bald eagles have shifted their diet from chum salmon carcasses to the carcasses of dairy cows in the northwestern U.S. (NICK BALACHANOFFF)

Inspired by the High Seas treaty, scientists are calling for the protection of space

Quirks and Quarks7:47Inspired by the High Seas treaty, scientists are calling for the protection of space

In early March, nearly 200 United Nations member countries agreed to the first-ever treaty to protect the world’s oceans. Imogen Napper, a marine biologist at the University of Plymouth in England, and a group of colleagues are calling for a similar legally binding treaty to protect the Earth’s orbit from exploitation by the ever-growing global space industry. Their concerns were put forward in a letter in the journal Science.

A woman looks up into a starry sky with a beam of light coming from her headband light
Marine biologist Imogen Napper has turned her attention from ocean plastic pollution to protecting the Earth’s orbit from space debris. (Eleanor Burfit)

Arches, loops and whorls — how your unique fingerprints are made

Quirks and Quarks7:40Arches, loops and whorls — how your unique fingerprints are made

There are eight billion people in the world, each with a unique pattern of ridges on our fingertips. Now, scientists have discovered that the process by which these intricate and complex patterns arise is similar to how animals get their spots or stripes. Duelling genetic and chemical signals during fetal development give rise to changes in the ridges and spaces between them that cover our fingertips. Denis Headon, a geneticist from the University of Edinburgh, traced how this interplay results in the complex whorls, loops and arches that make up our fingerprints. His research was published in the journal Cell.

A computer monitor on a black desk in an ambiently lit room has a giant fingerprint blown up on it taking up the entire screen.
A fingerprint is enlarged for examination at the US Homeland Security Investigation Forensic Laboratory in Tyson Corner, Virginia. A new study describes how our fingerprints get their unique patterns. (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

Humans are fueled by food — but we run on electricity

Quirks and Quarks19:31Humans are fueled by food — but we run on electricity

Every living cell works as a battery, with the ability to respond to and send out electrical signals. Science and technology journalist, Sally Adee, became fascinated with this realization after participating in an experiment in which a gentle electrical current, delivered to her brain, gave her the abilities of an expert sharpshooter. Bob McDonald speaks with her about her new book, We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body’s Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds. In it, she explores how much our biology — from our bodies’ ability to heal to the higher order processes of human thought — works through electricity.

Someone's hand can be seen holding a multitude of colourful wires emanating from the electrodes in a cap that he's wearing as he sits inside a makeshift cockpit.
A man holds electrodes set up on the head of Swiss scientist-adventurer and pilot Bertrand Piccard that will monitor his electrical brain waves prior to a non-stop 72 hours simulation test flight in 2013. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

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