space station

A spare robotic hand for Canadarm2 tested at Ottawa's David Florida Laboratory in 2015. The Canadian Space Agency says the lab can run tests ranging from –25 to 60 C. (Canadian Space Agency)The Canadian Space Agency has confirmed a west Ottawa spacecraft laboratory it calls "Canada's national facility for spacecraft assembly  integration" is closing at the end of March 2025.The David Florida Laboratory officially opened in 1972 in the Shirley's Bay complex off Carling Avenue. It's one of the few complexes in the world…

NASA recently shared a breathtaking image of Earth taken from the International Space Station (ISS), revealing an incredible sight of frozen seawater. Captured on February 3, 2024, the image showcases a stunning display of sea ice swirls along the coast of Labrador in eastern Canada.In a witty caption, NASA wrote, “This soft serve machine is not broken,” referring to the resemblance of the frozen seawater swirls to soft serve ice cream. The threads of sea ice trace ocean currents, forming intricate patterns that are…

For two decades, Tamara Franz-Odendaal has been studying how space travel affects the human skeleton.Because of the absence of gravity in space, astronauts experience bone loss when they get back to Earth."We always think of it as just the scaffold that kind of keeps the body together, but it's a really dynamic tissue," said Franz-Odendaal, a professor at Mount Saint Vincent University.Using a device known as a random positioning machine, which simulates microgravity experiments on Earth, Franz-Odendaal is conducting a…

Children gathered at First Nations University of Canada in Regina Thursday watched in awe as astronaut Jeremy Hansen unveiled the patch, designed by an Indigenous artist, that he will wear as the first Canadian to fly to the moon.Hansen, who is from London, Ont., is one of four crew members set to travel around the moon during the Artemis ll mission, which is expected to embark as soon as September 2025.He spoke at Thursday's event about how time he has spent with Indigenous elders has shaped his beliefs and…

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working in a phased manner to set up India's first space station, to be called as, Bharatiya…

Starlab Space’s forthcoming space station is so big and heavy that only the formidable SpaceX Starship megarocket can launch it into orbit, but the one-time delivery option comes with distinct benefits.Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewStarlab Space, like several other commercial ventures, is racing to deliver a commercial space station to orbit in anticipation of the International Space Station’s retirement in 2030. The company, a joint venture between Colorado-based Voyager…

You can’t fly an inflatable module to space without bursting a few on Earth. Sierra Space watched its giant, 20-foot tall space station module explode in dramatic fashion, but the company wasn’t too stressed about it. In fact, it marked a successful test on the road to building the first commercial space station in low Earth orbit.Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewThe Colorado-based company carried out a burst test of a full-sized version of its Large Integrated Flexible…

A Progress spacecraft docked to the ISS.Photo: NASAEvery once in a while, the ISS requires a boost to counteract orbital decay and maintain its altitude. While the ISS is equipped with its own thrusters, they aren’t sufficient for major reboosts due to limited fuel capacity, lower power, and the need to preserve onboard resources for other critical operations (like orientation control and space junk avoidance). So instead, docked spacecraft are used to provide these external boosts. These spacecraft, specifically designed…

Gabriela Cowperthwaite is the first to admit her new film, I.S.S., is out of step with her career to date.The director of Blackfish (a documentary about the cruel treatment of orcas in captivity, Children of the Underground (about a covert network built to smuggle families away from abusive partners) and Our Friend (a true story of friendship in the face of terminal cancer), Cowperthwaite might be expected to focus on tales inspired by real events. Instead, an unrealized love for thrillers, horror and blockbusters took…

Daniel Dolomont, Muneeb Azher, Victoria Vaters and C-CORE vice-president of remote sensing Desmond Power are just a few members of the big team behind the Killick-1 cube satellite. (Submitted by Memorial University)A team of students at Memorial University is counting down to blast-off. The group of engineers designed and built their own satellite, with a plan to monitor climate data and sea ice in Newfoundland and Labrador.Named the Killick-1, the cube satellite is about to be sent into space as part of SpaceX's mission…