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Northern Light is a proposed unmanned mission to Mars that would consist of a lander and a rover, being planned by a consortium of Canadian universities, companies and organisations. The primary contractor for the spacecraft is Thoth Technology Inc. The spacecraft would consist of four parts: An apogee kick engine to provide orbital injection for a cruise vehicle that carries the Northern Light lander and the Beaver Rover to a direct rendezvous with Mars using a Hohmann transfer orbit. Atmospheric entry would be achieved by a heat shield, parachute and airbag deployment system. The lander would transfer the rover to the Martian surface. Once deployed on the Martian surface, the lander contacts Earth directly utilizing the 46m parabolic antenna located at the Algonquin Radio Observatory. The Beaver Rover is designed to have a maximum range of 1000 metres (0.62 mile) from the landing site. It would operate under battery, utilizing tools and sensors to investigate surface rocks that may contain the presence of photosynthetic life. == History == The project officially started in 2001, and its project leader is Ben Quine, from York University, Canada. York University has participated in the Canadian Space Program and has designed several space research instruments and applications currently used by NASA, including the meteorological station on board the Phoenix Mars lander.〔(Experiment aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour ). York U press release. Retrieved 2008-05-22〕〔(NASA Phoenix Mission to Mars ). York U press release. Retrieved 2008-05-22.〕 Partners in this Mars project are York University, University of Alberta, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, University of Winnipeg, University of Western Ontario, University of Saskatchewan, University of New Brunswick, McGill University and Simon Fraser University. The mission control for the period after it lands on Mars, would be headquartered at York University. The cost will be an estimated $20 million, or possibly less if another country shares the rocket.〔 The Canadian Space Agency confirmed it knows of the project, but has no involvement in it.〔 In 2014, a crowd sourcing campaign to support the mission was launched on Indiegogo and YouTube in order to raise $1.1 million Canadian dollars for development of the flight hardware,〔(). Mission video on YouTube〕 but the drive raised only $10,012.〔(). Northern Light Indiegogo campaign〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Northern Light (spacecraft)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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