Daniella Ventura for Space Concordia

The Spacecraft Division of Space Concordia is working on building a nanosatellite in the context of the Canadian CubeSat Project (CCP), an initiative started by the Canadian Space Agency in 2018. Our 3U CubeSat, SC-ODIN (Space Concordia’s Orbital Dust Imaging Nanosatellite), will collect data using an RGB imager payload. The SC-ODIN will be a useful tool for climate science for our partners at the University of Montreal as it will help study the consequences of climate change by imaging aerosol particles at targets in Namibia, Canada, and Argentina. Our student organization and the project encourage the development of student expertise in a variety of disciplines, such as engineering, management, and community outreach. The team expects to launch the CubeSat in early 2023.

Students working on the project have developed skills related to structural, electrical, and software design, among others, and have become well versed in several engineering tools and programs. The core subdivisions of our team include electrical and power systems, attitude determination and control, command and data handling, systems engineering, structures, thermal, communications, and internal affairs (which encompasses the financial, social, marketing, and outreach parts of the team). Each of these teams has worked from conception to realization of the nanosatellite while applying and mastering the engineering work process that we have learned over the course of our degrees.

As the CCP has been in progress for almost four years, many of our members have had opportunities to take on leadership roles. These roles take many forms and are present at multiple levels of the team, from project management and subdivision leadership to the way students handle day-to-day tasks to keep the project going. One way that this happens is through the arrangement of meetings, workshops, and work sessions that encourage students to organize their ideas and knowledge for complex problem-solving. The collaboration aspect of building a nanosatellite is crucial, and the team is undergoing constant recruitment to involve as many students as possible and nurture a wide range of skills from every department at Concordia.

Working on the development of a nanosatellite also fosters the development of interpersonal skills and abilities related to the fundamentals of working on ambitious team projects. For instance, since the beginning of the CCP, the team has had to learn the value of persevering through adversity, unexpected changes, and challenges. After all, the team began working on the project in 2018, and since then, we have had to adapt to several structural changes and even to situations that led us to work entirely online for over a year. During this time, the team had to be resourceful by finding new ways to collaborate on tasks through online work sessions, adapting to new procedures when in-person work was required on Concordia facilities, and accommodating delays and other emerging issues. Despite all the challenges we have faced, the team has already achieved several of our key launch milestones with the Canadian Space Agency. 

Students apply concepts related to many of their engineering classes, such as adopting a problem-solving mindset for a variety of issues and tasks that we must tackle. However, the team must also take an interdisciplinary approach by combining several learned competencies in other courses. Therefore, our work results from an approach centred on engineering, finance, time management, and teamwork (our team has over 60 members). 

This article was written by Daniela Ventura and edited by Juan Espana.