Help Save Canadian Mars Exploration

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory will be the most important mission to that planet in over 30 years, will revolutionize our understanding of Mars and planetary environments, and significantly prepare the way for a human landing on the Red Planet. The goals of the MSL mission are dependent upon a precise landing - the most precise automated extraterrestrial landing in history.

The Canadian Space Agency was to have provided NASA with one or more innovative devices, including a landing system using proven LIDAR technology in which Canadians are the acknowledged world leaders. In fact, Canadian expertise is so highly recognized that half of NASA's proposed Mars missions for 2007 include Canadian contributions. Should Canada furnish the mission with this technology, we will be providing a system that could one day help humans to land safely on Mars. If Canada fails to do so, NASA may be forced to use an inferior system that would impede the mission.

We, the undersigned, do not ask that you violate fiscal prudence or the recent commendable history of balanced budgets. We do ask that you support the aspirations of Canadians by allowing this nation to contribute to this and future Mars missions, and enable the greater mission of the Canadian Space Agency - to inspire through excellence, and provide social and economic benefits for Canadians and all humanity.

Background

Much is at stake in this decision. Canada's international reputation would suffer; our ability to collaborate with our international space partners, including but not limited to the United States and the European Space Agency, could be affected by this reneging on promised involvement. Domestically, the productivity of the space industry - comprising circa 250 small and mid-sized companies across the country - would be adversely affected.

Canada's hopes of becoming a northern tiger are dependent on research. Canada's competitiveness in two traditionally strong areas - remote sensing and resource management - would also lag behind other nations. The Canadian science community, which the federal government has pledged to support with the fostering of an innovation strategy, would be frustrated, exacerbating the brain drain. That community has responded to Canadian Space Agency President Marc Garneau's new emphasis on space exploration. However, the Auditor-General has said that the Canadian Space Agency cannot fulfill its mandate at the current funding level. The Canadian population is now the most educated on Earth - and many Canadians are eager to take up the government on its stated intention to reverse that brain drain.

Any decision to enable this contribution to NASA and the international science community would be an investment in Canada. Resources directed toward space exploration are not simply fired into orbit, but circulate through local economies. The paycheques of engineers and support staff and salespeople, the research funds for basic and applied science, and the stipends of graduate students which derive from space exploration all pay for expertise that strengthens communities, promoting Canadian talent at home and abroad. The Canadian Space Agency has turned its investment in the Canadarm into products like NeuroArm, a device which promises to revolutionize neurosurgery, and robotic vision systems, which monitor hazardous waste containers. But it is the inspiration to youth, the real source of all future wealth, that pays the greatest dividends on any space expenditure.