CAPREOL, Ont. – A northern Ontario company is being awarded a Canadian Space Agency contract to work on a multi-purpose device that’s designed for future mining on the moon and Mars.
Deltion Innovations Ltd. of Capreol will develop the combination drill and rotary multi-use tool, which it describes as a space-age Swiss Army knife.
The device, which would be installed on the end of a robotic arm, is designed to drill into rock and other materials to capture a variety of samples.
It would also be used in robotic construction, maintenance and repair tasks.
Deltion CEO Dale Boucher says in a news release the project continues his company’s “unique heritage” of space mining technology developments.
The awarding of the $700,000 contract is to be officially announced at a news conference in Capreol this afternoon and Deltion is subcontracting with two other Ontario firms – Neptec Design Group of Kanata and Atlas Copco of North Bay.