News - Trottier Space Institute at McGill

Nicolas Cowan joins Ariel space telescope mission

Aug 24, 2023, McGill Reporter

As announced earlier this summer, the Canadian Space Agency will contribute to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Ariel space telescope mission that will launch in 2029. Nicolas Cowan, Associate Professor in the departments of Physics and of Earth & Planetary Sciences at McGill, has been appointed co-Principal Investigator of the Ariel mission, and will join ESA’s Ariel Science Team.

Job Opening: TSI Computing Research Fellow

Feb 28, 2023, TSI

We invite applications for a postdoctoral Research Computer Technology Fellowship at the Trottier Space Institute at McGill (TSI). Full details: https://tsi.mcgill.ca/index.php?page=job-opening-research-computer-technology-fellow Apply on AcademicJobsOnline:https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/24346

McGill research featured in Québec Science top 10

Jan 13, 2023, McGill Reporter

TSI Prof. Lyle Whyte and his team (including grad students Elisse Magnuson and Catherine Maggiori) are among the researchers whose work has been highlighted Québec Science’s list of top 10 scientific discoveries of 2022. They demonstrated, for the first time, that microbial communities found living in Canada’s High Arctic in conditions analogous to those on Mars can survive by eating and breathing simple inorganic compounds of a kind that have been detected on Mars (such as methane, sulfide, sulfate, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide). The team used state-of-the-art genomic techniques to gain insight into the microbes’ remarkable metabolisms. The findings, published in The ISME Journal, were so compelling that samples of the Lost Hammer surface sediments have been selected by the European Space Agency to test the life-detecting capabilities of the instruments they plan to use on the next ExoMars Mission.

Charles Gale and Daryl Haggard honoured by the Canadian Association of Physicists

Dec 22, 2022, McGill Reporter

TSI Prof. Daryl Haggard was awarded the 2022 CAP Herzberg Medal from the Canadian Association of Physicists. The medal is awarded in recognition of her leadership role in the development of multimessenger astronomy, and the ground-breaking discovery of the electromagnetic signal accompanying gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars.

Donation of $26-million boosts cosmic research in Montreal

Nov 21, 2022, The Globe and Mail

The Trottier Family Foundation announces a donation of $16 million to MSI, which will now be renamed the Trottier Space Institute at McGill. The donation is accompanied by a $10 million to UdeM, for a total of $26 million for the furthering of space science in Montreal. The donation from the Trottier Family Foundation was announced on Monday by McGill University and the University of Montreal. The funding will support a pair of institutes dedicated to astrophysics and the search for life on other worlds at a time when researchers at both centres are making key contributions to the field.

26 millions pour la recherche en astrophysique

Nov 21, 2022, La Presse

Un don de 26 millions sera annoncé ce lundi pour la recherche en astrophysique universitaire montréalaise. Il s’agit du plus gros don de l’histoire dans ce domaine aux universités de Montréal (UdeM) et McGill. L’Institut spatial de McGill se servira de la moitié des 16 millions promis sur 10 ans pour construire un nouvel édifice, rue University, qui sera relié à l’actuel par une passerelle. « Nous avons beaucoup de collaborations avec d’autres universités et voulons attirer plus de chercheurs, alors nous avons besoin de plus d’espace de travail », explique Victoria Kaspi, directrice de l’Institut.

$26M donation to propel space research at McGill and U de M

Nov 21, 2022, Montreal Gazette

A $26-million donation to the McGill Space Institute and the Université de Montréal’s Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx) will allow both institutions to “continue their groundbreaking research into extrasolar planets, fast radio bursts, the dark universe, and other extraterrestrial mysteries,” the universities announced on Monday.

To infinity and beyond: $26 million to propel space research at McGill University and Université de Montréal to the outer limits

Nov 21, 2022, McGill Newsroom

The McGill Space Institute will receive $16 million, of which half will go towards the construction of an annex to the Institute’s current building on University Street. The other portion of the gift will be used to fund graduate and postdoctoral fellowships, as well as to expand on existing programmatic and research support. The ground-breaking work by the Space Institute’s researchers includes major discoveries in the area of neutron stars and fast radio bursts by Professor of Physics and Director of the Institute Victoria Kaspi, an award-winning astrophysicist who holds the Lorne Trottier Chair in Astrophysics and Cosmology at McGill. In recognition of this historic gift, the McGill Space Institute will be renamed the Trottier Space Institute at McGill.

IUGG Early Career Scientist Awardees 2023

Nov 7, 2022, IUGG Press Room

MSI Professor Natalya Gomez among the winners of the 2023 International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) Early Career Scientist Award for her seminal contributions to our understanding of the connections between the cryosphere and sea level change, at the border of geophysical and climate sciences.

Canadian team wins prestigious award for work unravelling some of the mysteries of our universe

Oct 25, 2022, CBC News

The CHIME team, which includes many MSI members, has won the 2022 Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering from NSERC. The Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering recognizes outstanding Canadian teams of researchers from different disciplines who came together to engage in research drawing on their combined knowledge and skills, and produced a record of excellent achievements in the natural sciences and engineering.