Opening welcome to members of the Canadian Astronomical Society Marc Garneau President, Canadian Space Agency John H. Chapman Space Centre May 16, 2005
It is my pleasure to extend a warm welcome to members of the Canadian Astronomical Society, to your President, Jim Hesser of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, and to the chair of the Joint Committee for Space Astronomy, Douglas Scott of the University of British Columbia. I am pleased you could join us today at the John H. Chapman Space Centre, headquarters of the Canadian Space Agency. I am especially pleased that you could join us when so much is happening in Canadian Astronomy.   We at the Canadian Space Agency certainly feel that this is a time of great challenge, opportunity and excitement for Canada’s space program. Aujourd’hui, le Canada compte plus de 40 ans de réalisations dans l’espace. Le Programme spatial canadien est né d’une vision audacieuse, une vision qui a depuis considérablement changé la vie de ses citoyens.  In 1958, at the very beginning of the space age, John Herbert Chapman, a young scientist working at the Defense Research Telecommunications Establishment, proposed that Canada launch a satellite to study the ionosphere – a topside sounder. He believed that studying the ionosphere from space would help advance our understanding of a range of phenomena associated with solar storms—from disturbances in radio communications to the majestic Northern Lights.  It was a radical idea for its time. Given your backgrounds, many of you here today are familiar with the fact that Canada's space program traces its origins back to 1839 with the creation of a magnetic observatory at the University of Toronto by Sir Edward Sabine.  That observatory was built to study the proposition made by Edmund Halley in 1716 that the Northern Lights were formed as a consequence of the Earth’s magnetic field.  Sabine was the first to determine that magnetic disturbances occur worldwide and are related to the number and strength of sunspots. D’autres remontent encore plus loin et attribuent notre héritage spatial aux autochtones qui, depuis toujours, admirent les aurores boréales dans le firmament. En regardant dans la salle aujourd’hui, je vois plusieurs visages familiers et quelques‑uns qui me sont inconnus. Vous êtes des scientifiques et des chercheurs passionnés et dévoués qui travaillent ensemble, en équipe, avec des partenaires internationaux, des agences spatiales et des entreprises pour faire avancer nos connaissances. Vous cherchez à répondre aux questions fondamentales sur les origines et la structure de l'Univers, et la place que nous y occupons. Vous cherchez même à capturer le moment où le tout a commencé! Whether it involves the first images captured by one of the remarkable new telescopes recently commissioned or under construction, or the dawn of new and revolutionary scientific theories, finding ‘first light’ always draws us to the same elusive mysteries: Where did we come from? And, more evocatively, are we alone? By the end of 20^th century, humanity’s scientific scrapbook has pinpointed pulsars, black holes and quasars in the far reaches of the cosmos; discovered a plethora of extra-solar planets; realized that only a few percent of our universe is comprised of matter that we can directly observe; and established proof of nuclear fusion within a stellar stew of heavy elements that are the building blocks of an immense galactic ecosystem, and of life itself. Each step along the path of scientific discovery—each effort made by individuals, such as you, who dare to step outside conventional thought—has brought us to where we stand today on the threshold of a new revolution in our understanding of ourselves and our place in this unimaginably vast, chaotic and perilous universe. I’ve learned from my experiences as an astronaut and as head of the Canadian Space Agency that it takes more than one person, one idea, or even one country, to tackle the challenges of space exploration. As an enthusiastic champion of scientific and technological excellence, and targeted space science educational and public outreach programs, the Canadian Space Agency welcomes the Canadian Astronomical Society's partnered approach in order to realize the objectives of the Long Range Plan for Canadian Astronomy. This vision and commitment through collaboration is a vital and necessary approach that will make great strides to address the big questions inherent in space exploration as well as to the search for the origins of life. If space holds answers to many of science’s most fundamental questions, technology is the tool that will deliver them to us in every sector of space research. Relentlessly, powerful new research instruments and advanced techniques transform the unknowable into the familiar, the improbable into reality. This is especially true in the area of astronomy, a field in which Canada excels and a testament to the international recognition of this outstanding community. Canada has consistently ranked among the top three nations in terms of the quality of its astronomical research and the recent citation statistics that show Canadian astronomers ranked number one in the world is truly a remarkable accomplishment.  I would particularly like to recognize Dick Bond, Barth Netterfield and Mark Halpern who were featured in the recent article on this subject and who are all leaders of our space astronomy community. And here at the Canadian Space Agency, our history in space astronomy is young but our accomplishments are significant.  Starting with our support to balloon- and rocket-based astronomy and the outstanding early work on precise measurements of the Cosmic Background Radiation by Herb Gush and his group at UBC, we embarked in the 1990s on our first space astronomy ventures through partnerships in the Japanese VSOP Space VLBI mission with a Canadian scientific team led by Russ Taylor of the University of Calgary, NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer – FUSE (led by John Hutchings of HIA), and a contribution to Sweden's Odin satellite under the leadership of Sun Kwok of the University of Calgary.  It is to be noted that the latter two satellites are still flying and producing excellent data for our astronomers.We are, however, especially proud of our collaboration on MOST with Jaymie Mathews of UBC.  As you know, MOST is no larger than a medium-sized suitcase but it has already caused a stir with some of its early findings.  There is nothing humble or modest about the capabilities of MOST, which has achieved results comparable to observatories much larger in size and much more expensive. No other observatory or network of telescopes, including Hubble, can maintain the same kind of uninterrupted surveillance or match MOST’s precision when it comes to detecting subtle light variations in stars. Et il ne s’agit que du commencement pour notre microsatellite canadien. Le fait d’avoir notre propre oeil astronomique dans l’espace est un avantage incontestable, mais l’idéal est de combiner observatoires terrestres et spatiaux. En réalité, les innombrables mystères ne pourront pas être élucidés en n’utilisant qu’un seul télescope; l’origine et l’évolution des structures dans l’Univers sont trop complexes. À cet égard, le Canada est stratégiquement bien positionné, malgré des ressources limitées. Our strong partnerships with international space agencies and research institutes allow us to participate in large ventures without the prohibitive cost of staging our own. In fact, our reputation for consistently high quality and innovative research makes us an essential member on a wide range of projects. Perhaps that’s why the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is such an eagerly anticipated event. A joint project involving NASA, the European Space Agency and the CSA, JWST will take us all the way back to the Big Bang in order to: · determine the shape and composition of the Universe; · explain the evolution of galaxies; · clarify the physics surrounding the birth and formation of stars; · observe how planetary systems form and interact; · and probe the nature and abundance of dark matter and dark energy. Arguably the largest space science mission ever attempted, the JWST will open more than portals to the deepest reaches of the universe. Canada will be committing about $100 Million dollars to the development and design of critical components for JWST and the support of Canadian astronomers.  This investment will assure our astronomical community access to 5% of the viewing time, and give our space-based technology sector a well-deserved shot of adrenaline.   We are very appreciative of the leadership shown by John Hutchings and the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics of NRC in helping us and the community realize our objectives in relation to this exciting project. The Canadian-built Fine Guidance System will help image stars and measure their positions to enable accurate pointing for the whole observatory to milli-arcsecond levels. It will also incorporate a unique scientific instrument to complement the three other instruments being developed by NASA and ESA. The Canadian package will contain a tunable filter camera that will produce images of all objects in its field of view in specific, tunable wavelengths between approximately one and five microns.  Later today you will be hearing the latest news on MOST and JWST and how the CSA is assisting you to achieve your ambitious goals. What else looms on the space astronomy horizon for Canada? Vous savez peut‑être que l’ASC investit plus de 10 millions de dollars dans les instruments, le logiciel et l’appui que seront fournis aux deux missions Herschel et Planck de l’Agence spatiale européenne. Le but de la mission Herschel est d'explorer la formation des étoiles et des galaxies et saura adresser le mystère de leur naissance.  Planck est une mission en cosmologie et a comme but de cartographier le ciel en entier aux ondes millimétriques. Le Canada fournit l'oscillateur local de l'unité HIFI de Herschel et l'équipement de test et des logiciels pour l'instrument SPIRE, ainsi qu'un logiciel clef d'interprétation rapide et d'un logiciel d'analyse en temps réel pour Planck. Notre investissement permettra à des chercheurs canadiens de faire partie des équipes scientifiques des missions Herschel et Planck. I would like to acknowledge the outstanding scientific teams that have been assembled for these two missions under the leadership of Mike Fich of the University of Waterloo for HIFI, David Naylor of the University of Lethbridge for SPIRE, and Dick Bond of the University of Toronto and Douglas Scott of UBC for Planck. Canada is also a key partner in an important precursor mission to SPIRE – an international long-duration balloon project called BLAST.  The first scientific flight of this 2 metre telescope will be in early summer with a launch from Sweden, a 5 to 10 day float over the Atlantic, and a landing hopefully around Inuvik, N.W.T.  Barth Netterfield of the University of Toronto is the Canadian lead scientist for this ambitious project and is also deeply involved in the quick-look software development for Planck. The Canadian Space Agency has also recently signed an MOU to cooperate with the Indian Space Agency or ISRO.  One of our first joint ventures involves the contribution from Canada of the flight detector sub-system, and the ground test and calibration systems for the Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope, or UVIT.   Our technology will fly aboard the multi-wavelength astronomy satellite called ASTROSAT scheduled for launch in 2007.  The imaging observations proposed for this project are of great importance to the Indian, Canadian, and international astronomy communities because of the unmatched high spatial resolution combined with improved sensitivity and a large field of view. The scientific objectives of the ASTROSAT-UVIT mission are broad-based, and offer Canadian scientists and researchers access to data and the opportunity to collaborate on joint research extending from solar system objects to galaxies.  Again, John Hutchings and the HIA have provided strong guidance in the realisation of this project. Building on the succes of MOST, we are also turning our attention to Near-Earth Space Surveillance to monitor asteroid and comet trajectories. NEOSSAT is a joint project with the Department of National Defense that literally turns MOST on its ear to look closer to home, helping target and track dangerous near-Earth asteroids and comets, and also to search for difficult to detect man-made satellites. Through discussions with your President, I am pleased to learn that CASCA will be placing renewed emphasis on supporting space astronomy initiatives in the future.  For our part, I wish to commit the CSA to working even more closely with the community, both in relation to the Canadian Coalition for Astronomy and to supporting the next 10-year planning exercise that will start in the a couple of years.  I would also like to remind you that your formal voice to the CSA is through the Joint Committee for Space Astronomy which is a joint advisory committee reporting both to the CSA and to CASCA.  I also want to take this opportunity to thank many of you gathered here today, who have greatly contributed through national consultations, in the creation of the Canadian Space Strategy. La Stratégie spatiale canadienne a été approuvée par le gouvernement du Canada le 1^er février de cette année. Elle est divisée en quatre orientations clés, ou axes, sur lesquelles l’Agence et ses partenaires se baseront pour appuyer les priorités du gouvernement et de la communauté scientifique. L’Agence concentrera désormais ses efforts et ses investissements en fonction de quatre axes principaux : Observation de la Terre; Exploration et sciences spatiales; Télécommunications par satellite; Sensibilisation à l’espace et éducation. The Strategy describes how the Agency and its key partners, including the members of the Canadian Astronomical Society, will be using space the meet evolving needs of Canadians by: looking down upon the Earth to observe, monitor and protect life on our planet; looking out into the depths of space to explore, learn and discover more about the Universe, as well as our place in it; looking upon space as a means of communicating with each other by relaying information via satellites; and looking to space as a source for inspiration to inform Canadians about their country's advances in science and technology, and increase scientific literacy among our citizens. As you continue your discussions and exchange ideas over the next few days, I invite you to explore this new vision.  A vision, that will foster our  commitment to strengthening our partnership by extending the reach of our technological and scientific expertise in the search for knowledge, in service to Canada and humanity. Thank you.