Canada cancels small lunar rover that was to fly on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander in ’29
Even as Canada has increased its government space spending in Europe and in Canada — mostly it appears to prop up bureaucracies or failing businesses — its space agency has at the same time cancelled its first lunar rover project, scheduled to brought to the south pole of the Moon by a Firefly Blue Ghost lander in 2029.
As part of its 2026-2027 departmental plan, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has cancelled its ambitious lunar rover mission. The lunar rover was announced in 2022. It would have been Canada’s first rover, built by Canadensys, and hitching a ride to the moon on a commercial launch vehicle built by a private U.S. company, Firefly Aerospace.
…The principal investigator of the mission, Gordon Osinski, a planetary geologist from Western University, said that he found out about a month ago, and that he was “devastated” by the news.
Note that this rover was hardly “ambitious.” It was a small unmanned rover comparable to similar rovers deployed by India, Japan, and others, mostly aimed at testing the engineering for later larger rovers.
The real issue however is how this decision illustrates Canada’s leftist government misplaced priorities. Increasingly it appears it is canceling actual space research or planetary missions and shifting the money to other uses, either European projects or bureaucracies in Canada or failing Canadian businesses.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Even as Canada has increased its government space spending in Europe and in Canada — mostly it appears to prop up bureaucracies or failing businesses — its space agency has at the same time cancelled its first lunar rover project, scheduled to brought to the south pole of the Moon by a Firefly Blue Ghost lander in 2029.
As part of its 2026-2027 departmental plan, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has cancelled its ambitious lunar rover mission. The lunar rover was announced in 2022. It would have been Canada’s first rover, built by Canadensys, and hitching a ride to the moon on a commercial launch vehicle built by a private U.S. company, Firefly Aerospace.
…The principal investigator of the mission, Gordon Osinski, a planetary geologist from Western University, said that he found out about a month ago, and that he was “devastated” by the news.
Note that this rover was hardly “ambitious.” It was a small unmanned rover comparable to similar rovers deployed by India, Japan, and others, mostly aimed at testing the engineering for later larger rovers.
The real issue however is how this decision illustrates Canada’s leftist government misplaced priorities. Increasingly it appears it is canceling actual space research or planetary missions and shifting the money to other uses, either European projects or bureaucracies in Canada or failing Canadian businesses.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Adopting the model of the Canadian healthcare system, the government apparently decided to euthanize the small lunar rover.
More seriously, contrast this post with the one below, with researchers (and their students) hitching rides on privately funded missions at greatly reduced cost. The astonishing thing is that so many Americans — just ask the voters in NYC — still believe that the Canadian approach is “better.”
The Canadian government is notably incompetent at pretty much everything it does so it should come as no surprise that space activity is also on that list. A lean toward European projects should come as no surprise given that the current Canadian Prime Minster is really far more a European than he is a Canadian.
The failures in space policy are just a microcosm of the disaster that is Canadian political life since Justin Trudeau’s election. Canada is presently the only country on the G7 that has an economy that’s shrinking, and that is not a coincidence.
Richard M,
No, it isn’t. Ah well, as the late Herb Simon famously said, “When something cannot continue, it will stop.” The complete and continuing dysfunction of Ontario and Quebec will simply further fuel the already considerable tendency in Western Canada toward secession.
The Trump administration would be wise to build a wall along at least part of our northern border in addition to its exertions in that respect to the south – and to do it “in advance of need” as the funeral industry likes to put it. We have more than enough entitled leftist parasites already in the US. We don’t need to allow in more.
Can’tada
Canada hasn’t been serious about its own technological development since the cancellation of the Avro Arrow in 1959.
American economist Peter St. Onge is good at explaining economics in humorous and easy to understand ways. In this 5 minute video he talks about how Canada is dying. It will get worse for Canada when the U.S. / Mexico / Canada trade deal (USMCA) is set to be renegotiated in July and Trump will most likely to pull out. China uses the USMCA to ship their products through Canada and Mexico to the U.S. to bypass tariffs. Also to meet “carbon reduction goals” Canada has exported most of their manufacturing jobs to China.
“Peter St Onge, Ph.D. @profstonge
Canada just lost 109,000 jobs in 2 months.
In US terms that’s almost 1 million jobs.
Meanwhile food inflation just hit 7.3% — the highest in the G7. And 60% of Canadians are borrowing to buy groceries.
Carney is sacrificing regular Canadians to score points on Donald Trump.
4:30 AM · Mar 19, 2026”
4:52
https://x.com/profstonge/status/2034593227777736815
James Street,
Why would Carney care. When he’s done destroying Canada he can just go back to Europe where he has spent most of his adult life anyway.