Allan Rock, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the Canadian Space Agency, announced today the awarding of a $400,000 contract to MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) of Richmond, B.C., to support the Canadian Space Agency in defining Canada’s contribution to European missions to Mars, and the NASA-led Mars Science Laboratory mission. Landing safely on the Red Planet is a critical element of any Mars mission. The study to be undertaken by MDA will include an assessment of the design, development and use of laser-based sensor technology to land spacecraft on the surface of Mars. As a world leader in robotic technologies, Canada will also be considering its role in the development of a robotic mining device that will extract samples of the planet’s subsurface and prepare them for scientific study.