$1.6M investment to advance Canada's HAWC mission
In 2022, the Canadian Space Agency announced Canada's participation in NASA's international Atmospheric Observing System (AOS) mission. Our contribution is the High-Altitude Aerosols, Water vapour and Clouds (HAWC) mission.
Today, we awarded a contract valued at $1.6 million to SFL Missions Inc. to develop concept designs for:
- the Canadian satellite for the HAWC mission
- the Aerosol Limb Imager (ALI), an instrument flying on the Canadian satellite to measure mid- to high-altitude aerosol particles
This investment will showcase the potential of the HAWC mission's key components and confirm that the science and technology are ready to move forward to the next phase of development.
Why this mission
Canadians need better tools to prepare for increasingly frequent extreme weather events and project the impacts of climate change. Existing weather and climate models are limited by current data on aerosols, water vapour, and clouds – key atmospheric features that significantly impact temperatures, precipitation, and Arctic climate systems. The HAWC and AOS missions will fill this gap by providing new data of unprecedented quality to improve our weather prediction, climate and air quality models. This will support Canada in understanding climate trends, mitigating risks, and building resilience to environmental challenges.