When the primary Canadian astronaut to launch to the moon lifts off with NASA’s subsequent Artemis mission, she or he will achieve this carrying a brand new image of Canada’s efforts in space.
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on Thursday (March 16) debuted a new logo (opens in new tab) to characterize the rising function of the nation’s space program.
“An thrilling period of space exploration is unfolding earlier than us, and the CSA seeks to enter this new chapter with a contemporary figuring out image,” learn a statement from the agency (opens in new tab). “The Canadian Area Company is modernizing its visible identification with a brand new simplified brand.”
Associated: Everything you need to know about NASA’s Artemis program
The brand new mark options two primary parts.
At high is the maple leaf, Canada’s nationwide emblem. In keeping with CSA, the leaf “generates satisfaction and a way of belonging,” along with its affiliation with the nation, as is thought all around the globe.
The maple leaf additionally gives the look of chickening out.
It symbolizes “daring invention and our sights set on the longer term, able to push the boundaries of ingenuity and innovation,” CSA’s description learn.
Trailing the maple leaf are three stars, which at its most simple interpretation are a illustration of space. The celebrities are additionally meant to convey brilliance, intelligence and experience, in addition to the energy of the neighborhood, which incorporates all these concerned in Canada’s space program, together with trade, scientists, academia and STEM (science, know-how, engineering and arithmetic) organizations.
A round model of the brand additionally contains the total, spelled-out identify of the company wrapping across the high in English and in French (“Agence Spatiale Canadienne”) on the backside.
In 2019, CSA entered into a brand new settlement to assist develop the Gateway, a human-tended analysis and logistics platform in lunar orbit. For its half, CSA and its trade companions are growing a brand new robotic system that can help in repairs and sustaining the moon‘s first mini space station.
Known as “Canadarm3,” the brand new arm builds off Canada’s legacy of offering the unique Canadarm for the space shuttle and Canadarm2, which continues to be in use on the International Space Station.
CSA can also be growing the nation’s first robotic lunar rover, which in collaboration with NASA will assist in the worldwide seek for water ice within the lunar soil.
In return for these contributions, NASA reserved a seat for a CSA astronaut (opens in new tab) on its first crewed mission to fly across the moon in additional than 50 years. The identities of the Artemis 2 crew members can be announced on April 3 throughout an occasion held at NASA’s Ellington Subject, close to Johnson Area Heart in Houston.
“Simply over-the-moon proud to see Canada because the one associate flying on this historic first mission with NASA,” Joshua Kurtyk, one in all CSA’s 4 energetic astronauts who’re eligible for the seat on Artemis 2, wrote in a social media submit. “Our distinctive progressive, exploratory and pioneering spirit at work, and a direct hyperlink to Canada’s future prosperity and safety.”
CSA’s new brand replaces an earlier design that was first launched on Nov. 4, 1996. The now-retired mark additionally featured a maple leaf, however as a substitute of main off the symbol, it was positioned beneath a stylized horizon with the sun’s rays extending from behind and a vector extending to a four-pointed star (of the identical model on the brand new brand). As an alternative of its full identify, the Canadian Area Company’s English and French acronyms (“CSA” and “ASC”) appeared in italic beneath the maple leaf.
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