News

The ongoing development of CASTOR builds on a number of earlier CSA-sponsored scientific and technical investigations, including a 2012 concept study; several Space Technology Development Program (STDP) studies; a 2019 Science Maturation Study that included the technical design, scientific plan and mission architecture; and a 2023 Phase 0 study.

In anticipation of a Phase A study, NRC is sponsoring a Small Teams Initiative to develop CASTOR’s UVMOS instrument while detector development is taking place in Canada and the UK.

July 5, 2026

CASTOR presented at the 2026 SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation conference in Copenhagen, Denmark

June 9, 2026

CASTOR town hall held at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society in Montreal, Quebec

May 11, 2026

CASTOR presented at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taipei, Taiwan

February 9, 2026

Successful control of the digital micromirror device for CASTOR’s UVMOS instrument demonstrated at NRC Herzberg in Victoria, BC

February 5, 2026

First site visit takes place at the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility to assess conditions for a potential CASTOR optical ground station in Inuvik, NWT

July 29, 2025

CASTOR presented at the 2025 Canada-Korea Conference on Science and Technology in Montreal, Quebec

June 18, 2025

CASTOR UVMOS team meets in Calgary, Alberta for second “busy week” workshop in support of Small Teams Initiative

June 4, 2025

CASTOR town hall held at the 56th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society in Halifax, Nova Scotia

May 14, 2025

SPIE publishes invited overview of CASTOR mission concept and its development to date

March 25, 2025

Michelle Kao wins Experiential & Work-Integrated Learning Ontario’s 2024 Co-op Student of the Year Award for her contributions to CASTOR

January 17, 2025

FORECASTOR team publishes first high-fidelity predictions for expected “census” of galaxies to be carried out by CASTOR’s Wide, Deep and Ultra-deep surveys

November 12, 2024