Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for Health and Life Science (HLS) Research on International Space Station (ISS) (ISS AO 2026)
The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is interested in human spaceflight and maintaining a healthy and highly qualified astronaut corps capable of participating in space exploration missions. Also, the CSA aims to enable scientific opportunities and global partnerships, and to harness space to solve everyday challenges for Canadians.
To support this goal, the CSA's Health and Life Sciences (HLS) group supports activities generating knowledge in fields that sustain human space flights, mitigate health risks, and lead to countermeasures for those missions. Canadian utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) focuses on research that addresses health risks of spaceflight. Eligible proposals must lead to a better understanding of these risks or generate information supporting the development of countermeasures.
AO Objectives:
Through this AO, the CSA is seeking to financially support Canadian researchers who will design and implement scientific protocols to investigate health risks associated with space travel. More specifically, submitted projects shall clearly demonstrate that they:
Contribute to the understanding, mitigation or elimination of health risks associated with human space flight.
Contribute to a better understanding of similar health issues or applications on Earth.
Propose innovative space life science studies to be conducted on the ISS using non-human research models.
Foster training of highly qualified personnel (HQP) in space health and life sciences.
Applications due July 24, 2026.