(Toronto, ON – Tuesday, May 24, 2022 ) Canadensys Aerospace Corporation announced today that it has received a contract from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to supply an advanced multi-spectral microscope for NASA’s Lunar Vertex Mission. Canadensys will deliver the flight hardware to Johns Hopkins in late 2022 for integration onto the mission.
A NASA-selected Intuitive Machines’ commercial lander will deliver Lunar Vertex to a location within Reiner Gamma. The mission will conduct complementary investigations both from the lander and from a small rover that will explore just over a mile (up to 2 kilometers) of the 43-mile (70-kilometer) wide surface feature. The Lunar Vertex payload includes an ion-electron plasma spectrometer and cameras that will remain on the lander, magnetometers on both the lander and rover, and the Canadensys-supplied multispectral microscope on the rover.
“This exciting mission will further our understanding of the space-weathering processes on the Moon and throughout the solar system, says Frank Teti, General Manager of the Canadensys Toronto facility where the lunar microscope is being designed and manufactured. “It’s been a pleasure to work with Principal Investigator Dave Blewett and the team at Johns Hopkins APL on this important mission that will have a lasting impact on lunar exploration.”
The Canadensys multi-spectral microscope will collect close-up images of the Moon’s surface at the Reiner Gamma site. This key data on the composition and texture of the soil will enable scientists to learn more about the enigmatic lunar swirl feature and how it may have formed. The fine-scale images will provide ground truth for observations from orbit by other missions, and help to solve the mystery of lunar swirls – a longstanding puzzle in lunar science.
“Canadensys is thrilled to be working in collaboration with Johns Hopkins APL on yet another groundbreaking lunar mission,” says Christian Sallaberger, President & CEO at Canadensys.
About Canadensys Aerospace Corporation
Canadensys Aerospace Corporation is a space systems and advanced vehicle development company founded on the heritage and expertise that spans a number of Canada’s historic space achievements of the last three decades. We blend our innovative space hardware capabilities with smart, ruggedized vehicle designs to develop unique solutions for planetary, orbital and terrestrial environments based on modern, commercial business approaches to space program and mission development
For additional information and interviews, please contact: Amanda Fruci (amanda.fruci@canadensys.com, 647/998-2737)