A small satellite built in Nova Scotia is ready to fly into outer space.
LORIS, which means low-orbit reconnaissance imaging satellite, is a nanosatellite, designed and built by students at the Space Systems Laboratory at Dalhousie University. It is 20 centimeters high by 10 centimeters wide and weighs just under two kilos.
Arad Gharagozli, project leader and founder of the space lab, said it was a “surreal feeling” to see LORIS finished.
“It’s been four years that have really encapsulated everyone’s lives to some extent,” he said.
“Obviously we’re very excited and can’t wait for him to send us the first signal.”
The work was funded by the Canadian Space Agency as part of its CubeSat project, which was announced in 2017. LORIS is one of 15 CubeSats being built in postsecondary institutions across the country, but it is one of the first to be completed.
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LORIS will do a resupply mission to the International Space Station and, once on board, the plan is to put it into orbit sometime in November.
Its main mission is to test new technologies that have not yet seen the darkness of space.
“A lot of research has been done on LORIS, from battery research to materials and software and mechanical research, so one of the things LORIS will do is bring this research into space and then we’ll see how it really works, “he said. Gharagozli, and adds that it is also equipped with specialized cameras.
Gharagozli, who has since founded Galaxia, a space systems company in Halifax, said miniaturization is the new wave of space exploration. Ashley Field / Global News
More than 250 students helped with the project: now engineering graduate Lucas Rowlands worked on the LORIS electronic power system for his final year project.
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“For our project we designed the deployment board, which is the burn wire circuit that would cut the cable wires that would then release the solar panels once they came out into space,” Rowlands said.
He said that although he always knew that LORIS was destined for the stars, “he didn’t quite get it right” that he would soon be out in space.
“All the time you’re working on it, in the back of your mind it’s like, ‘Oh, this is going to go into space.’ he said. “But now that it’s done and we’re reaching the final stages of implementation, it’s exciting to know that it will be launched and that the things we’ve worked on and touched on will be orbiting the earth.”
Gharagozli, who has since founded Galaxia, a space systems company in Halifax, said miniaturization is the new wave of space exploration.
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“The ultimate goal is: how to make them as small as possible and as light as possible so that you don’t pay for this experiment in advance? And nanosatellites can do that very effectively and efficiently,” he said. , and added that LORIS is a perfect example.
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“It’s about the size of a one-liter carton of milk, so it’s not big, and that’s one of the things about nanosatellites that makes it very attractive, because the cost of launching is “It has dropped significantly, but it is still halfway there. $ 40,000 to $ 45,000 per pound to throw.”
He applauds the Canadian Space Agency for supporting the CubeSat project, which allows him and his team to focus on technology development without worrying about finances.
“We really need Canada to be competitive on a global landscape in terms of space exploration or Earth observation, so we expect projects like this to continue, because without it, it would be almost impossible to do things like this in private. funding, ”he said.
“The more we can do that, the more we can learn and the more technologies can come out of Canada that, again, we desperately need to be competitive in this landscape right now.”
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