G2V Optics has sent solar simulators to NASA to help test a spacecraft that aims to solve the growing problem of Earth’s space debris. It is the latest success in the evolution of the Edmonton-based company towards the use of its “Engineered Sunlight” technology to help aerospace organizations know what to expect from the sun once they put their devices into orbit.
“It’s a huge project and … a fantastic feather on the cover of every member of our team who worked on it,” G2V Optics CEO Ryan Tucker told Taproot. “And I think it’s a great thing for Edmonton and our technology.”
G2V Optics has received $ 822,100 in NASA contracts since 2021. This project, the culmination of a two-year acquisition process, is for the test of OSAM-1, a spacecraft that is expected to will be launched in 2026 to service Landsat 7, a satellite that has gone from its peak. If OSAM-1 can successfully dock with Landsat 7 and refuel it, NASA will be one step closer to increasing the life expectancy of satellites, even those that were not designed to be served in orbit. , and will decrease the number out of orbit. ordering ships at risk of colliding with each other around our planet.
This is not the first foray into the G2V Optics space business. In addition to a previous contract with NASA labs, the company has been working with the Center national d’études spatiales (CNES) in France to allow testing of the technology involved in the 2024 Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission. , in which a rover will land in Phobos and fly through Deimos.
“We don’t put anything in space. But we’re creating all the photons to make sure everything works when they send it there,” Tucker said, noting that it’s fun to have a preview of ongoing space research. “We get to look behind the curtain of these really interesting and exciting space exploration missions before they become public.”
The space is not where G2V Optics started when it was founded in 2015. After founder and CTO Michael Taschuk first developed the company’s light emitting diode technology at the University’s National Nanotechnology Institute of Alberta, its first applications tend to be in food production. , specifically to maximize the effectiveness of vertical agriculture.
“From a technical perspective, we did remarkable things,” Tucker said. “We were able to grow 30% more biomass with the same amount of energy and improve as much as possible using the complexity of our technology. But we realized we were too early for this market … it’s a such a nascent industry that it is dealing with its own challenges in terms of scale. “
At the same time, solar cell researchers and aerospace companies were prepared for G2V.
“Suddenly we started working in this industry, with this more complex requirement, which fit perfectly into what we had developed,” Tucker said. “That’s the traction you’re looking for, isn’t it? Your job as a startup is to find it. And it wasn’t exactly where we thought it was. But, I like to think, we were smart enough to listen to them. chase him when we find him “.