Grants awarded under the FAST 2021 Announcement of Opportunity
Funding for space research and development, with a focus on training the next generation of experts
Through its Flights and Fieldwork for the Advancement of Science and Technology (FAST) funding initiative, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) supports the development of space science and technology and enables students and young researchers to gain hands-on experience in space-like missions. Grants are issued to Canadian post-secondary institutions following a competitive process.
The main objectives of the FAST Announcement of Opportunity (AO) were to:
- Develop and maintain a critical mass of researchers and highly qualified personnel in space-related fields in Canada;
- Increase the value of students for future employers in the space sector by exposing them to practical experiences that enable them to acquire space science and technology knowledge and skills sought by, among others, the industry; and
- Increase scientific knowledge and/or develop new technologies.
As of , the CSA has awarded 21 grants under the FAST AO representing $3.71 million to Canadian post-secondary institutions to advance space science and technology while training the next generation of space experts. A description of the supported projects and their respective funding amounts are presented below under three funding categories:
- Category A – End-to-end space-like mission projects
- Category B – Space-related research projects – 2 to 3 years
- Category C – Space-related research projects – up to 1 year
Category A – End-to-end space-like mission projects
The institutions listed below were awarded grants of up to $300,000 for end-to-end space-like mission projects that include technology development, use of the technology during a flight or a field deployment, and data collection and analysis. These projects are expected to last up to three years.
| Institution | Grant value | Project | Principal investigator |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Waterloo, Ontario |
$300,000 | High-Frame-Rate Ultrasound Monitoring of Cerebral Blood Flow in Astronauts | Dr. Alfred Yu |
| McGill University, Quebec |
$299,937 | Development of fundamentals of propulsion technology based on in-situ manufactured metal fuels | Dr. Jeffrey Bergthorson |
| University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick |
$299,912 | Ion-Neutral Coupling Experiment | Dr. Jeffery Langille |
| McGill University, Quebec |
$300,000 | Developing new technologies to access and investigate a unique Mars and icy moon analogue | Dr. Lyle Whyte |
| Queen's University, Ontario |
$299,182 | Balloon-borne Very Long Baseline Interferometry Experiment | Dr. Laura Fissel |
| University of Alberta, Alberta |
$271,744 | Design of Satellite Propellant Tank – Self-guided fluid configuration for efficient fuel management | Dr. Prashant Waghmare |
| York University, Ontario |
$299,120 | Preparing for Mars Ice Mapper Mission with Airborne SAR Modeling and Ground Truth | Dr. Isaac Smith |
| University of Alberta, Alberta |
$277,805 | Simulated Microgravity in Understanding Knee Osteoarthritis | Dr. Adetola Adesida |
| Université du Québec à Montréal, Quebec |
$294,630 | AirBands – Wireless Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) cuffs and TeleHab – online exercise prescription and monitoring app | Dr. Alain Comtois |
Category B – Space-related research projects – 2 to 3 years
The institutions listed below were awarded grants of up to $100,000 for small space-related research projects. These projects are expected to last two to three years.
| Institution | Grant value | Project | Principal investigator |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Alberta, Alberta |
$99,715 | Advanced Curation Methods of Astromaterials: Applications to Future Comet Nucleus and Mars Sample Return Missions | Dr. Christopher Herd |
| Western University, Ontario |
$100,000 | Canadian Participation in the Rover-Aerial Vehicle Exploration Network (RAVEN) | Dr. Catherine Neish |
| University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan |
$100,000 | OSIRIS-3: CubeSat payload design and demonstration | Dr. Adam Bourassa |
| University of Manitoba, Manitoba |
$97,130 | Deployable SAR Antenna with Multiple Phase Centres for Monitoring Arctic Snow and Sea Ice | Dr. Dustin Isleifson |
| Concordia University, Quebec |
$99,990 | Expedition Cognition: a solid foundation for adaptive automation | Dr. Emily Coffey |
| McGill University, Quebec |
$97,625 | Cosmology with the MIST radio experiment from the McGill Arctic Research Station space analogue site | Dr. Hsin Cynthia Chiang |
| University of Ottawa, Ontario |
$100,000 | Probing for life in icy Lake Untersee, Antarctica: an analogue for the habitable subsurface world on Enceladus | Dr. Denis Lacelle |
| University of Lethbridge, Alberta |
$100,000 | Cryogenic post-dispersed polarizing Fourier transform spectrometer | Dr. David Naylor |
| Queen's University, Ontario |
$98,500 | First flight of HELIX and detector development for future payloads | Dr. Nahee Park |
| Western University, Ontario |
$100,000 | Science and Technology Preparation for Exoplanet Detection with the Proposed POET Mission | Dr. Stanimir Metchev |
Category C – Space-related research projects – up to 1 year
The institutions listed below were awarded grants of up to $40,000 for space-related research projects. These projects are expected to last one year.
| Institution | Grant value | Project | Principal investigator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concordia University, Quebec |
$39,600 | Reduced gravity flights to study granular scaling laws for lunar rovers | Dr. Krzysztof Skonieczny |
| Cégep de Sherbrooke, Quebec |
$39,958 | Miniaturization of the HABLAN system, which performs multi-spectral and multi-angular remote sensing of nocturnal artificial light | Dr. Martin Aubé |