SpudNik-1, a UPEI-made satellite, begins tests for space orbit

A tiny satellite being designed at UPEI is one step closer to blasting off into orbit later this year.

The team behind the satellite, dubbed SpudNik-1, met with members of the Canadian Space Agency last week to go over design and testing plans before starting the testing phase of the project.

"It's exciting to actually get to the point where we'll be able to start hooking everything up together, seeing how it performs and doing the last modifications before it's ready for launch," said Grant McSorley, assistant professor in the faculty of sustainable design engineering at UPEI.

The satellite, which is now in the prototype phase, is part of the Canadian Space Agency's CubeSat project, which 15 universities across the country are participating in.

Tony Pellerin with the CSA calls it a "low-cost, fast project that we can put in space with a certain amount of risk."

Pellerin, the manager of the CSA's mechanical engineering group, was at UPEI Thursday to go over the plans for SpudNik-1. He said meeting with students brought him back to his own university days, when he wished he had these kinds of opportunities.

"These teams have to actually build real space hardware that's going to go into space. So it's quite exciting for them. But we also feel the excitement with them," said Pellerin.

The satellite will measure 10 cm by 10 cm by 20 cm, about the size of two Rubik's cubes stuck together.

The UPEI team began working on its CubeSat in 2018and, over the years, about 40 students have had a hand in the project.

The CubeSats were originally supposed to launch in 2020 and 2021, but the project was delayed by the pandemic. UPEI's satellite is now planned to launch in December 2022.

We want those students to flood the space industry in Canada and be ready to put their hands on other space projects.- Tony Pellerin, Canadian Space Agency

Josh O'Neill, now a third-year master's student in sustainable design engineering, was part of SpudNik-1 from the beginning.

"I've got a very big passion for different things like control systems and electronic design. And I found that this project really could encompass all of it," said O'Neill.

The satellite's mission will be to take pictures of P.E.I. that will be used for "precision agriculture" purposes, said O'Neill.

That includes images that will help researchers and farmers decide where to apply fertilizer and water in more efficient ways.

O'Neill is working on the part of the satellite that will make sure it's oriented toward P.E.I. to take those photos.

"It's great to just be able to take everything essentially out of the textbook and actually put it into a computer program," he said.

"You hit that run button and everything all comes together all at once, and you can finally see the theory coming together and working as you expect it."

The satellite may be small, but contained within that space is a multitude of systems, including sensors, power management and communications.

Plus, it all has to function in the vacuum and temperature conditions of space.

"Sometimes you lose track of that when you're working the details, but when you really think that, 'OK, this is going to be launched and we're actually going to have it orbiting and sending photos back,' it's pretty exciting," said McSorley.

From Pellerin's perspective, this project is an opportunity to introduce this kind of work to students who could one day be in the aerospace industry.

"We want those students to flood the space industry in Canada and be ready to put their hands on other space projects," said Pellerin.

"They have a good learning experience in their pocket, actually built a real spacecraft and launch it in space."