PDF version of COSPAR - Space Science Research in Canada Report

since the early days of his research career; he was one of the scientists whodiscovered an impact crater in Mexico’s Yucatan Penninsula that is widelybelieved to have caused climatic changes that doomed the dinosaurs.He described the surveys being done by NEOSSat and ground-based telescopesas an insurance policy. “If we find all the asteroids that cross the Earth’s orbit andwe determine their orbits and project them into future, odds are we’re going todiscover that none of them is going to impact the Earth any time soon and weknow that we’re safe. But until we do that, there’s this chance that one of them isgoing to impact us.”“The key is to detect a hazardous asteroid as early as possible,” said Laurin.“The earlier you know its position, the better chance you might have to deflect itsorbit or prepare for it. If you can detect it from very far away, several orbits aheadof time, you don’t need to deflect it very much.”Hildebrand noted that new telescope networks being planned will look for evensmaller Earth-crossing asteroids, down to around 200 metres in diameter. It’sestimated there may be some 30,000 of them. Asteroids of that size could have asignificant regional impact, such as wiping out a major city, but they’re unlikely tocause a planetary-scale environmental disaster like the one that hit the Yucatan,which Hildebrand estimates at about seven kilometers in diameter.NEOSSat is managed through a Joint Project Office (JPO) of CSA working in collaboration withDRDC. The detailed development and construction contract for NEOSSat was awarded in July2007 to Dynacon, now inherited by Microsat System Canada Inc. The two NEOSSat sciencemissions focus on “Near Earth Space Surveillance (NESS)”, led by the University of Calgary, and“High Earth Orbit Space Surveillance (HEOSS)” led by DRDC.PhoenixFollow the water.That is the mission of the Phoenix spacecraft, which landed near the Arctic circleof Mars on May 25, 2008. The fate of water on Mars—past, present and future—has always held a special fascination for scientists because where there is water,there is at least the possibility of life.“Life as we know it is always dependent on the presence of water, so if they’regoing to find life on Mars, they expect it will be linked to water,” said Peter Taylor,a professor of Earth and Space Science and Engineering at York University inToronto. Taylor is one of several Canadian scientists working on the U.S.Phoenix mission, the first to land in such a northerly location.50