UVic Satellite Design Team’s ORCASat technology to be launched into orbit in November
The UVic Satellite Design (UVSD) team is aiming for space in November with the launch of its Optical Reference Calibration Satellite (ORCASat) mission.
The UVSD team is made up of students whose mission is to create an engaging and welcoming space for other students to learn the steps necessary to send something into space. Their latest project, ORCASat, will do just that.
According to the UVSD team, the ORCASat is an advanced engineering solution that will make distinguishing and tracking asteroids and space debris easier and more accurate. Understandably, many members of the UVSD team are very excited about future applications of this technology.
“Whether [an asteroid were] actually coming to Earth, our telescopes could see it coming much faster,” said Stewart Lusk, the team’s outreach manager. “So hopefully there are good apps for all of humanity.”
According to the team’s website, ORCASat’s unique laser-light-based calibration technology sets a worldwide unprecedented standard of accuracy when it comes to correcting distortions experienced by incoming cosmic light signals. because of their interactions with the Earth’s atmosphere and with the optical system. hardware of ground-based telescopes that detect them. The greater the accuracy of the correction, the more certain they can be of the position of objects in space.
ORCASat is about to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in conjunction with SpaceX CRS-26, which is the Center’s crew resupply mission for the International Space Station (ISS).
The satellite’s space launch is scheduled for November 18, 2022, although the date is subject to change depending on the weather.
Once on the ISS, ORCASat will be sent into orbit through the Nanoracks Bishop airlock, which is a gateway for commercial customers to move satellites and payloads in and out of space via the ISS.
Biarki Weeks, the team’s technical lead, says: “Once it’s launched, once it’s in orbit, … we’re going to point our very large antenna at it and try to talk to it.
After the launch, the group plans to do a display event at the ground station in the Engineering Lab Wing building so that those at UVic can see the orbiting satellite, hopefully at a time when it flies over the university. .
“It’s state-of-the-art technology; it’s really innovative,” Lusk said. “We are looking to find partners in industry and government…it would be great to make the world a better place.”
Even as a technology and engineering-focused club, the UVSD team continues to seek campus partners. The group hopes to attract students from all fields to the cause and welcomes anyone who is interested in their work and wants to get involved.
“I joined [the team] because I’ve always had an interest in space and wanted to get hands-on experience designing space hardware,” Weeks said. “There are a lot of difficulties inherent in working in a high radiation, low atmosphere environment…I was interested in the issues and worked with a team to help resolve them.”
Other team members had also joined out of sheer curiosity and in hopes of gaining expertise in the field.
“I wanted to join a team just for the experience, and I thought, why not satellites?” said Sam Jasper, UVSD Project Manager.
“What we’re doing is definitely tech-driven…but we’d like to reach other parts of campus,” Lusk said. “The more people involved, the better.”
Students interested in joining the UVSD team can check their website for more information.
#UVic #students #launch #technology #satellite #space