Success Stories

A Sudbury Region Success Story

 

Northern Centre For Advanced Technology Inc. (NORCAT)

NORCAT's mining know-how a key to supporting human life on the moon

Whether down here on earth or up on the moon, humans need oxygen and water to survive.  So, astronauts heading on a moon mission have to take these life essentials with them to survive.  It’s not only expensive — to soft land one litre of water on the moon costs more than $100,000 — but also limits the duration of space missions.

Therefore, to support life for any extended period on the moon, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would need to use the moon’s natural resources to find oxygen and water.  Their answer to this dilemma was to develop technology that turns moon dust into the water and oxygen needed to support humans, while also helping provide rocket fuel for return trips.  But, to help complete this task in space, they turned to Sudbury’s Northern Centre For Advanced Technology Inc. (NORCAT) .

JUNO Rovers are equipped for mining on the moon

It struck NORCAT’s Dale Boucher and his collaborators that traditional moon vehicles —  mostly used for science experiments — wouldn’t do a very good job at tasks like drilling and plowing and excavating. Nor could they do these kinds of tasks repeatedly without human supervision. So they decided to build a space mining rover.

Using their mining expertise, Boucher’s team created a vehicle that had the type of capabilities needed — things such as the ability to keep all four wheels on the ground at the same time, a low centre of gravity and the right kind of traction and skid steering.  They also needed a vehicle that could accommodate drills, plows, an excavating bucket and science instruments such as a ground-penetrating radar system.  And, all of these features had to be easy to swap in and out by simply removing a few bolts.

Today, the resulting “JUNO Rover” can create moon-based landing pads, scoop up dirt and carry it to ovens that cook out oxygen and water for human use. They’ve recently returned from a very successful testing of these planetary excavation tools at NASA.

The Juno is the perfect example of the power of the Ontario Network of Excellence , and how different Regional Innovation Centres are working together to succeed on a “universal” scale. To design and perfect the JUNO, NORCAT collaborated with Ottawa’s Neptec Design Group, New Hamburg’s Ontario Drive and Gear , as well as students from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Aerospace Studies .

NORCAT eventually plans to translate the Juno’s advancements from space for use in the mining sector on earth.   For now, it’s all systems go to the moon and beyond.