The Canadian Space Agency awarded the Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation $1 million to conduct two parallel studies that will define Canada’s role in lunar infrastructure. Specifically, the funding will advance ways to provide power and resources to a permanent human presence on the moon.

This work will form the foundation of Canada’s space future, and ensure Canada’s continuing leadership as part of the Artemis missions and beyond.

However, these technologies aren’t only useful for Canada’s space future. They also have massive implications for our strategic defensive capabilities. 

The micronuclear power systems CSMC is designing to sustain a lunar base through total darkness and extreme cold are the same systems that is developing to replace diesel generators at Canadian military installations, forward operating bases and remote northern and Indigenous communities. The quantum sensing technology being applied to detect and map lunar resources has equally direct applications in Canada’s Arctic — from locating critical mineral deposits to monitoring permafrost and supporting Arctic infrastructure planning.

At a moment when Canada is facing real pressure to demonstrate sovereignty and defence readiness in the North, CSMC is building the foundational technology to do both.