Ottawa’s Mission Control Space Services is headed back to Luxembourg to participate in round 2 of the Space Resources Challenge, hosted by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC).
In 2021, Mission Control completed round 1 of the international challenge, where the team successfully navigated their rover across a mock lunar surface to locate resources, map a small crater and perform reconnaissance operations to plan for future missions.
While the rover was provided by Waterloo’s Clearpath Robotics, and a compact Lidar from MDA (those who brought you earth observation and a little line of hardware called the Canadarm), the software to power it all is Mission Control’s own.
Outside of the competition, Mission Control provides space and analogue mission operation software. If you have a rover, they have the software to move it—specifically on the Moon.
But before the Moon, you’ll need to test things back on Earth, perhaps in a little place that Mission Control calls the Moonyard, located at HQ in Ottawa.
In February 2020, the Canadian Space Agency awarded Mission Control with two, separate contributions from Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP) for $1,168,387 and $3,042.959 in response to a technology development and capability demonstration. The technology funding will enable Mission Control to begin business through the supply chain of companies offering commercial Lunar missions. Separately, Mission Control has received $600,000 from the agency to develop a science instrument to measure temperature, identify water ice deposits and collect measurements using A.I.
Space isn’t just hard—it’s also not cheap. With a storied resume chalked full of achieved milestones, government contracts, and Moon-bound technology, you can’t help but watch to see what’s next for Mission Control.
With the lunar goals in sight, Mission Control takes another step (or leap) forward in Luxembourg during round 2 of the Space Resources Challenge from Sept 6-9.