The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) is moving forward with Round 2 of the Connected Care Medical Module health in space initiative.

The CSA describes the Connected Care Medical Module as being a part of the Health Beyond Initiative which “aims to collaboratively identify and develop innovative and sustainable medical solutions as part of evolving the healthcare delivery model currently used in low-Earth orbit for deep space, in line with the recommendations of the Advisory Council on Deep Space Healthcare. This new ‘deep space healthcare model‘ would address the additional and heightened healthcare challenges to be faced by astronauts traveling to farther destinations.”

They added that “Health Beyond’s vision is to enable agile, rapid prototyping and iterative operation of C²M²s on Earth, with the ultimate objective of operation in space. A C²M² is a scalable integrated system of state-of-the-art medical technologies and methodologies contained in a deployable unit. A shipping container will first be used for research and development purposes and for easy deployment across Canada via the existing intermodal freight transportation network. When preparing for space application and deployment in remote communities with collaborators, the Module, can be scaled down and adapted as needed.”

The Connected Care Medical Module Round 2 Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued at the end of June on CanadaBuys and is described as follows:

“The requirement is to develop the design phase and a proof-of-concept demonstration of the user experience. The outcomes from this design will be evaluated and considered for prototyping (option 1). As an added incentive, there is a possibility of additional options that could be exercised to evolve the solution. This requirement will be subject to the Canadian Content Policy. A bidders’ conference will be available to offerors.”

The RFP comes after five companies received $2M each in late 2022 in the first round of the project. The companies selected included Baüne, Canadian Space Mining Corporation, CGI, Lunar Medical, and Phyxable.

At the time, Annie Martin, CSA’s Health Beyond portfolio manager, said “I don’t think I can say how many bidders we got, but we got many. It was it was amazing to see innovators in Canada. Each of the companies has a different focus – such as virtual/augmented reality, or mental health – and will display their work at CSA headquarters next summer.”

This RFP has a maximum funding amount of $3M.