Ottawa Will Have to Increase Space Agency Budget for Mars Missions: Garneau

LONGUEUIL, Que. (CP) – The federal government will have to increase the Canadian Space Agency’s budget if it wants Canada to be part of future missions to Mars or the moon, the head of the agency said Tuesday.

Marc Garneau said Canada is involved in discussions with NASA to find out how it can contribute to a Mars mission. But he said the agency’s annual $300-million budget would have to be increased in order to get Canada involved.

“Once we’ve got a clear fix on what it is that we may be able to do, we will have to go to the government and see whether the government is prepared to fund that. . .because we cannot do that within our $300-million budget,” he said.

“The chance for Canadians to go to the moon or to Mars will depend directly on whether we are a paying customer,” he said.

He noted that Canada’s strengths are robotics, mining technology, atmospheric technology and communications.

Garneau, Canada’s first astronaut in space, made the comments at a news briefing where he reviewed the agency’s accomplishments in 2004 and outlined its agenda for the coming year.

Garneau said plans include the return of a Canadian astronaut to the International Space Station later this year.

He said NASA hopes to resume space shuttle flights this spring following the Columbia space shuttle disaster of February 2003 which killed its crew.

Garneau said astronaut Steve MacLean should be on a shuttle that’s headed for the space station next Dec. 8.

“NASA always has a planning date for planning purposes, but nothing is ever fixed.

“If, for some reason, unexpected problems occur when the first launch is expected to occur in the May-June time frame, it tends to shift everything.

“At the moment it’s realistic, but I’ll give you a better estimate after that first launch,” he said.

Canadian astronaut Bob Thirsk could beat MacLean to the space station. Thirsk is currently training as a back-up mission specialist for a planned visit to the space station by a Russian Soyuz space vehicle in April.

Garneau also said the future of the space station would be discussed at a Jan. 26 meeting in Montreal with the heads of the world’s space agencies.

But he added the space station program isn’t in jeopardy.

“All of the partners have agreed that they will support their undertakings until at least 2016.”

But Garneau also noted the space shuttles will eventually be replaced.

“The situation has been very clearly stated by the United States that when the International Space Station is completed, which is around 2011, the shuttle will be retired.

“At that point the plan is to replace it with a smaller crew exploration vehicle, which will be used for further space exploration.

But Garneau said he isn’t worried about U.S. President George W. Bush’s decision to switch the focus of the American space program to the moon, Mars and beyond.

Garneau also said that work continues on RADARSAT-2 satellite, which is scheduled to replace RADARSAT-1 in 2006. The satellite was used to provide images of the South Asian tsunami before and after the Dec. 26 disaster.

But he said it needs to be replaced.

“We have had some hair-raising moments during the last year where systems have failed, and to keep a satellite working in its 10th year when it was designed for five years is a remarkable accomplishment.”