University of Western Ontario

Published purpose

This project is an expansion of an existing Industrial Research Chair (IRC) funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA). It consists in a unique partnership between the Canadian mining and space industries and the government. An overarching goal and long-term objective of this Chair is to develop state-of-the-art science instrumentation to enable science-based robotic exploration of the Solar System and to increase the rates of development and production in mines. This Chair will focus on the scientific study of large meteorite impact events and three interrelated exploration objectives: development of instrumentation; automated and autonomous data capture; and remote situational awareness.