Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who is the first Canadian to walk in space and the only Canadian to set foot on Russian space station Mir, was in Greater Sudbury on April 28 to have a look at space mining technology being developed by Northern Centre for Advanced Technology Inc.

He examined the robots being developed by NORCAT in Sudbury. These robots will let future astronauts mine resources on the Moon, Mars or asteroids.

Hadfield said, "It's great to have a chance to update some of the technologies that have been developed over the last several years. NORCAT has done some real cutting-edge work in not only in supporting the mining industry, but in some of the future mining industry, maybe as far flung as Mars".

NORCAT researchers tested the lunar mining robots in Hawaii because the volcanic rock best resembled space rock. It will take many years to make mining feasible on Moon, but it is the right time to develop new technologies.

He further explained it that there are enormous mineral resources beyond earth's atmosphere and that a country, like Canada or an organization, like NORCAT should develop the technology.