Canadensys Aerospace recently shared a project update on a ground test demonstrator (GTD) designed to prove out a future lunar agriculture module or LAM.
The company received a task authorization from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), it shared on Aug. 8 on LinkedIn, to continue developing the LAM on a project that has been ongoing since 2023. The project eventually “looks to design, produce, and operate a full-scale, closed-loop, remotely monitored and controlled lunar agriculture system, simulating operations on the lunar surface,” the statement noted.
Both the CSA and DLR (the German space agency) are working on LAM and the task authorization is a follow-on from funding announced in 2024 for Canadensys, as well as previous work, shared Canadensys president Christian Sallaberger. Academic partners, who are the University of Guelph and McGill University, are assisting with nutrient delivery, illumination control, plant health monitoring and robotic assistance.
“The LAM-GTD is something we have been developing for a couple of years already in partnership with the Germans. Other international participants, such as the Italian Space Agency and NASA, are involved in various capacities,” Sallaberger wrote to SpaceQ.
“The purpose of this program is to demonstrate lunar greenhouse technologies that will eventually be used to supply food and oxygen for astronauts on long-term lunar surface missions, in the context of a broader bioregenerative life support system.”
Sallaberger thanked the CSA for their recent funding, as well as broader financial support of lunar food production. “We have experienced in the past how investments by the CSA in early-stage R&D has allowed us to develop capabilities that lead to successful business growth and international exports. We are already starting to see this same pattern in the area of space-based plant growth and food production.”
Canadensys has been quite active in moon activities lately; as covered in SpaceQ, Canadensys is busy designing the first Canadian lunar rover, and is developing a lunar utility vehicle concept as well. It also was a contributor to the Intuitive Machines lunar landing in 2024.
Other examples of spinoffs, Sallaberger said, include moving lunar rover technologies and design methodologies into terrestrial robotic and human-operated vehicles for industrial and defence customers. Food security is also critical, he said, in Canada’s northern areas as well as other areas of the world – in which Canadensys expects direct applications.
“The LAM-GTD work at Canadensys compliments other work we are also doing, supported by various sources of government, commercial, and internal R&D funding,” Sallaberger said. “This work is developing the key technologies and system elements that will be required for greenhouses and food production on the lunar surface. Some of these are manifested to fly on upcoming demonstration missions in the coming years, while we are working towards an operational lunar surface agricultural system to help with astronaut food and life support requirements in the 2030s.”
A 2023 Acta Astronautica article from CSA and DLR representatives noted the GTD succeeded an Antarctic project known as EDEN ISS, which ran between 2018 and 2022. The project was hosted at the Neumayer Station III research base to evaluate agriculture in closed-loop life support systems; Canada was also one of the contributors during the project.
The following year, a new paper presented at the International Astronautical Congress noted a research priority for GTD would be evaluating “how plants will react to the artificial grow environment; this includes the ambient pressure, which is likely to be reduced compared to Earth’s standard atmosphere during operation on the lunar surface.”
Canada is a signatory to the Artemis Accords, which are led by NASA and aim to both provide a framework for exploring space under U.S. norms and – for nations who so choose – to provide hardware in exchange for astronaut seats on Artemis moon missions.
Canada’s principal Artemis contribution is the robotic Canadarm3 built by MDA Space for the Gateway moon space station, which largely funded CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s seat aboard the moon-circling Artemis 2 (which should launch no earlier than next year). But as this announcement by Canadensys shows, the CSA and its supported contractors have been busy with numerous other activities in support of lunar exploration as well.
