Manitoba researchers are making space exploration cheaper

The vast landscapes of Saskatchewan and Manitoba have long been synonymous with agriculture and natural beauty. Yet, as we began to learn last week, in recent years, a new frontier has emerged, a burgeoning space industry that has set its sights on the cosmic expanse above.

Last week, we shared with you a story about how the University of Winnipeg is contributing to the exploration of Mars by collaborating on projects with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

This week we will be looking at a story about how a professor at the University of Manitoba wanted to shake up the aerospace industry by creating practical solutions to space problems using research that would otherwise remain on the shelf.

I’ve heard more than one Manitoban say that the people in their province are cheap, and they do not mean it as a bad thing. I don’t like to stereotype, but the U of M team has been finding more cost-effective ways of exploring space. 

Magellan Aerospace has invested in the U of M’s work and, in doing so, hopes to attract more like-minded companies to Winnipeg.

U of M partners with Magellan Aerospace to give students real-world space engineering experience

University of Manitoba professor Dr. Philip Ferguson wanted to disrupt an aerospace industry unwilling to try new things.

He said theoretical research gets “stuck” in scientific journals and is never used. He wanted to change this by using the results of these studies for practical purposes in space. 

“I kind of wanted to kick the space industry in the pants a little bit,” said Ferguson, which is why, in 2017, he founded STARLab inside the Engineering and Information Technology Complex on the U of M campus.

STAR stands for Space Technology and Advanced Research. 

STARLab’s main room contains a long, shallow trough filled with gravel for testing various types of rover wheels. There is also a space in the middle surrounded by netting to conduct tests with drones. Students sit at computers analyzing test results. 

A focus of STARLab is to find ways to make space more accessible and less costly. 

For example, U of M engineered the Iris CubeSat, a satellite smaller than a two-litre milk carton. It uses off-the-shelf components that one could find on a cellphone. Its antenna is made from a part that came from a household tape measure. 

While satellites meant to be in orbit for a long time must use materials to withstand the radiation in space, Iris, which will only be in rotation for about a year, doesn’t need to be fortified. 

Radiation-hardened materials are expensive. Using unprotected supplies cuts the cost. However, Ferguson said, the trade-off is that the satellite is more susceptible to space weather like solar wind, bursts of charged particles coming from the sun that can wreak havoc on electrical equipment.

To read more, click here.

Next week, in our final installment of the Prairie space series, we will be looking at the space work being done at the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan. 

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