Canadian Space Agency Budgets $65 Million to Develop Lunar Rover: Internal Audit

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tries to see if the remote-controlled lunar rover being tested out by NASA astronaut Victor Glover (C) will run over his foot or stop automatically, as he meets with the crew of the Artemis II at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa on April 25, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Justin Tang)

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has budgeted approximately $65 million—representing over 40 percent of the agency’s total funds for a moon exploration project—to develop a lunar rover, according to an internal audit.

On top of the $65 million for the rover, the CSA also said that around $20 million of the budget has been allocated to a “scientific instrument that will eventually be used on the moon,” while another $20 million has been earmarked for a “contribution for a partner’s mission to return a sample from Mars.”

“Approximately $31 million is awarded in contracts, grants and contributions to the space industry and academic community to increase the market potential of Canadian businesses,” the CSA wrote in its “Audit Of The Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program,” as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.

The figures round out a total budget of $150 million over five years for the agency’s Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP), through which the CSA hopes to build a rover that can land on the moon in the near future.

Other objectives outlined in LEAP include enabling Canada’s space sector to “develop and conduct science experiments designed for lunar conditions” and to assist with preparing for “robotic and human missions.”

The CSA also hopes to “advance and demonstrate innovative technologies in lunar orbit, on the Moon’s surface, and beyond” through LEAP, along with begin developing “technologies that will be required as part of future deep-space missions.”

Moon Exploration

In its audit of the program, the CSA says it has “paid special attention to the Canadian lunar rover development project” because of its large “scope.” The space agency also found that LEAP will take two more years than originally expected.

“Some deadline-related risks materialized and had an impact,” the CSA wrote.

“The completion of the LEAP, which was originally scheduled for 2025 under initial planning, is now expected in 2027. This can be explained by the realignment of activities with those of international partners, such as the delay to 2027 of the lunar rover’s launch.”

In addition to the CSA’s plan of moon exploration by a rover, the agency will also be sending a Canadian astronaut to fly around the moon in November 2024 as part of NASA’s Artemis II 10-day mission.

The mission will make Canada the second country ever to send an astronaut around the moon, and Artemis II will represent the first crewed mission to the moon since the end of NASA’s Apollo space program over 50 years ago.

“The Moon represents a crucial stepping stone in humanity’s quest to travel onwards to Mars,” the CSA writes on its website.

Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.