Western University's space program has landed a major contract to build a high-tech rover camera for the Canadian Space Agency.
The university's Institute for Earth and Space Exploration (Western Space) announced on Tuesday it has been tasked with developing an integrated vision system for future rover missions to the moon. Unlike traditional cameras, this new instrument will combine multispectral imaging capabilities with multi-wavelength LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to provide 360-degree data collection despite the dark conditions. The main goal of the imaging system will be to characterize the surface of the moon and aid in sample selection.
“Winning this contract marks a major step towards achieving one of our institute goals of launching Western into Space,” Western Space Director Gordon Osinski said in a statement. “The world is focused on returning to the moon with robots and humans in the next few years and to think that Western faculty and students may play an integral role in developing the instrument that will be the eyes of lunar rovers is incredibly exciting.”
Osinski, along with Western Space Associate Director Jayshri Sabarinathan and Western Space Research Scientist Livio Tornabene, were the driving forces behind the successful contract bid.
Western will develop the integrated vision system in collaboration with MDA Visions Systems and Sensors, a leading Canadian space and defence company. The development is being funded through the space agency's lunar exploration accelerator program, which is putting $150 million over five years into the creation of new lunar technologies by small and medium-sized Canadian businesses.