Another Canadian heading to the International Space Station - in a Russian spacecraft

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA), announced that Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques has been assigned to a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), aka Mission 58/59

This is Saint-Jacques' first mission. He'll launch aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket in November 2018 to join an international crew. This marks the 17th space flight for the Canadian Astronaut Corps.

Before joining the Canadian Space Program, Saint-Jacques was a medical doctor and Co-chief of Medicine at Inuulitsivik Health Centre in Puvirnituq, Nunavik, an Inuit community on Hudson Bay. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine at McGill University

The Quebec native will bring his expertise in medicine, engineering and astrophysics to the Expedition 58/59 crew. In anticipation of this first assignment, he'll begin mission training in Russia, Japan, the United States and Canada starting this Summer.

Canada joins effort to bring piece of asteroid Bennu to Earth

The Canadian Space Agency has  developed and delivered a  Laser Altimeter to Lookheed Martin's Space Systems facility near Denver.

It will be part of the Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) project,  an international effort to collect a sample of Asteroid Bennu and bring it to Earth. 

Canada's laser altimeter will be integrated onto the spacecraft and undergo spacecraft-level testing, before the September 2016 launch.  

Why Bennu?  Bennu has the potential to impact the Earth in the late 2100s. Planning ahead is important.

Details of CSA's laser altimeter: Here

Details of OSIRIS-REx Here  (includes cool image of Asteroid Bennu)

Canadian astronaut wannabes winnowed down to 17

The race is drawing to an end. Within weeks, the names of the Canadian Space Agency's next 2 astronauts will be released. The candidates have faced a battery of tests, from emergency management and first aid, to damage control, problem solving, endurance and much more. CSA photo

Canada Recruiting New Astronauts

Canadian Space Agency will begin a national astronaut recruitment campaign at the end of May 2008, to select astronauts to join its Canadian Astronaut Corps.

Those selected will take part in long-duration spaceflights on the International Space Station. The application process will open at the end of May 2008. To apply, candidates will complete an application form on the Canadian Space Agency Website. Final selections in May 2009. Two astronaut candidates will be selected. A pool of qualified candidates will also be created for service in the future.

"This is an exciting career and we hope that many Canadians apply," said Guy Bujold, President of the Canadian Space Agency.

Cassini to make unprecedented flyby of Saturn's Enceladus.

NASA has engineered a most unusual flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The spacecraft, will make its closest approach to date, where it will will skirt along the edges of huge geysers that erupt

from fractures on the south pole of Enceladus. Cassini will test for water-ice, dust and gas in the plume. The source of the geysers is of great interest to scientists who think liquid water, perhaps even an ocean, may exist in the area. While flying through the edge of the plumes, Cassini will be approximately 120 miles from the surface. At closest approach to Enceladus, Cassini will be only 30 miles from the moon. In 2005, Cassini's multiple instruments discovered that the tiny moon was gushing water vapor geysers out to a distance of three times its radius. This is the first of four Cassini flybys of Enceladus this year. In June, Cassini completes its prime mission, a four-year tour of Saturn. Cassini's next flyby of Enceladus is planned for August, well into Cassini's proposed extended mission. Cassini will perform seven Enceladus flybys in its extended mission.

Update: here are some of the first pics of that encounter

Crash of Canada's Space Biz

British Columbia's outstanding newsrag The Tyee, reports that BC's top space contractor, MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd, is selling out to Alliant Techsystems Inc. of Minneapolis for $1.3 billion. The announcement came days after the resignation of the head of Canadian Space Agency, Laurier Boisvert. Coincidence? Hah!


The deal puts control of Canada's Radarsat-2 largely into US hands, to the misgivings of many, not to leave out constituting a major braindrain from Canadian space industry according to the article.

-CSA image

Canada sending up new surveillance satellite to spy on inhabitants of North Pole

The Global SpyState is moving apace. The Canadian Space Agency has announced its new surveillance satellite Radarsat-2, set to begin "safeguarding Canada's sovereignty" over its Arctic realms.

Jim Prentice, Canada's Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the Canadian Space Agency said that RADARSAT-2 "will provide improved surveillance and monitoring capabilities that will provide critical data for the active management of natural resources and monitoring of the environment. .. In the event of a disaster, RADARSAT-2 will be an indispensable tool to provide rescue and humanitarian aid to those most in need".

All well and good, but as is well known, Terra's collapsing Arctic ice is opening up industrial access to hitherto unexploited seafloors where riches unknown await--at least Big Industry hopes so. But inconveniently for the exploiter wannabes, amid the ice are the islands and Innuit people of the Nunavut Territory of arctic Canada, 30,000 strong, whose two million square kilometer expanse extends from north of Hudson's Bay to the North Pole. Established in 1999, Nunavut is Canada's newest province. Check out their arctic lights link

With Radarsat-2 however, surveillance of the activity of everyone in Nunavut, from tiny isolated villages to the streets of Iqaluit, the capital, may be carried out from afar, quite as easily as a downtown street in Toronto or Brisbane; bringing the Innuit, like it or not, into the global spystate, from which, one assumes , it'll keep and eye on the non-corpatriotic among the Innuit.

Set to launch December 8, 2007 the from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Radarsat-2 is one of those "unique public-private sector partnerships" ; i.e. another government/industry hybrid where the taxpayers foot the bill and the shareholders get the profit.