Students from the Dalhousie Space Systems Laboratory have built the first satellite made in Nova Scotia and will soon be launched into space – first for the Atlantic Canadian.
Several universities received federal funding to build a nanosatellite in 2018. Teams from Dalhousie and the University of Victoria were the first to graduate.
Now the Dalhousi team is getting ready to send their creation to launch. The satellite measures 10 by 10 by 20 centimeters and weighs less than two kilograms.
Project manager Arad Garagozli said it was satisfactory to set up CubeSat.
“Just being in this environment and having the opportunity to work closely with some of the experts in our space industry here in Canada was amazing,” he said.
“To be able to gather all the resources and show everyone that even building a satellite is something we can do here in Nova Scotia was huge.”
The device is called LORIS, which means low-orbit reconnaissance satellite.
Arad Garagozli led the project. CubeSat will be launched from the International Space Station. (CBC)
The main purpose of the satellite is to test how different technologies work, such as computers in space. It is also equipped with cameras to take aerial photos of the ground and the team hopes to take photos of Halifax.
Katerina Vinogradova started working on the satellite during her first year of engineering at Dalhousie.
She said it was surreal to know that she was working on something that would be in space.
“When you work to achieve a goal, you feel extremely long at the moment,” she said. “And then you get to the end and you feel like it went extremely fast. So it’s kind of a relief to know that everything is going according to plan and it’s quite satisfying to see everything come together and go up.”
Departed for the International Space Station
Vinogradova is part of a small team that will transport the satellite to the Canadian Space Agency in Montreal at the end of the month.
Once integrated into the launcher, it will be sent to California, launched to the International Space Station and sent into orbit.
Katerina Vinogradova is an engineering student at Dalhousie University. (CBC)
Luc Charbono also worked on the satellite and is part of the transport team.
“I’ve always looked at the stars and things like that, and in the end I’m really doing something that’s moving in space,” Charbono said. “So yeah, it’s really exciting a lot of fun.”
Since 2018, about 250 students have participated in the project, most of them engineers.
The first satellite of Nova Scotia will be shown on Thursday from 15:00 to 17:00 at 1345 Norma Eddy Lane on the Dalhousie campus.
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