14 Fall / Automne 2017 About the Author Dario Schor is currently a Software Engineer at Magellan Aerospace while pursuing a Space Studies Ph.D. at the University of North Dakota. He obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Manitoba in 2008 and 2013 respectively before attending the 2013 Space Studies Program from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. Dario has served in various roles within IEEE Canada and the Winnipeg Section. He can be reached by email at schor@ieee.org. a lofty challenge ahead of them: drafting a national Space Strategy to position Canada at the forefront of the New Space movement. For more information, please refer to the consultation papers and the summaries for each of the meetings at https://www.ic.gc.ca/ eic/site/ad-ad.nsf/eng/h_ad03983.html. ■ they going to measure progress? The board is volunteering to help develop metrics to evaluate the implementation of the plan, monitoring the progress against the met- rics, and advising the minister on the vari- ous findings. It is holding the government accountable to the input from the many stakeholders. CONCLUDING REMARKS Ultimately, an updated space strategy with a long-term vision must balance many factors, including national security and commercial interests. The items highlighted in this review all point to needed policy changes. More sup- port is necessary in order to build a more bal- anced space program including the encour- agement of novel commercial ventures; these will not only inspire the next generation, but also provide employment opportunities within Canada. Hence, the Space Advisory Board and the Canadian government have welcoming environment for New Space entrepreneurs that focus not only on the space assets, but also on the downstream ap- plications related to the big data movement. Finally, there is a strong recommendation to dedicate 10% of the Canadian Space Agency budget to research at Canadian universities that includes both developing new tech- nologies and providing flight opportunities to establish flight heritage. The second recommendation focuses on the role of the SAB. At first glance, this can appear to be self-promoting, however, if one reads the details, this point speaks on behalf of the citizens the board is representing. The first part of this recommendation aims to continue engaging with the community of stakeholders to continue discussing the “bold, aggressive, and inspirational” ideas throughout the development of a national space policy. The second portion of this recommendation focuses on what many roundtable attendees pondered: how are University of Victoria’s ROCKETRY TEAM is another Canadian success story. Their first entry into the competition in 2016 received third place in the Basic Category. Raising the stakes for 2017, Annaliese Meyer, the Payload Science Lead, and her team developed a novel ultraviolet sterilization unit for interplanetary sample retrieval. In this experimental setup, bac- teria was placed on aluminum squares where it was exposed to three specific wavelengths of ultraviolet light during the flight. The preliminary results showed a significant reduction of the sur- vival rate of flight tests versus their control experi- ments - furthering the understanding of effects of the flight for future sample return missions. The advanced payload design earned the first place in the Space Dynamics Laboratory Payload Challenge in 2017. The team collaborated with members of the IEEE Student Branch in the design of the guidance, navigation, and control unit under the direction of Martin Kellinghusen. They designed custom boards, firmware, and software to run the experiment autonomously. Rather than using the traditional “remove- before-flight” pin, a hall effect sensor was used to detect a magnet placed to arm the rocket on the launch pad. The novel design removed many structural constraints placed on the electrical design. Although not required, a 70cm amateur radio band transmitter was used to send live telemetry to a nearby portable ground station, thus enabling them to monitor the state of the rocket while on the launch pad and in flight. Live telemetry feeds help to mitigate risks to ensure the system is operational before launch (e.g., not overheating) and also serves as a forensic measure in the event of a catastrophic failure. These activities are not easy and require lots of sponsors; a special acknowledgement goes out to the IEEE Canadian Foundation (ICF) for sup- porting the University of Victoria rocketry team. “UVic Rocketry would like to extend our profuse thanks to ICF for their generous donations and sup- port of our team,” says Annaliese Meyer, Payload Science Lead. “The foundation makes it possible for our wide range of members to reach new heights in their professional and academic goals.” The success of these teams builds on the rich history of Canadian sounding rockets that dates to the first Black Brant launch on September 5, 1959. For more information on the IREC competi- tion and the teams participating, please visit http://www.soundingrocket.org/. And who knows, perhaps these students will get a minor in “rocket science” with their engineering degrees. ■ Rocket Engineering Competition ...continued from page 13 ersus their control experi- derstanding of effects of ple return d payload place in the tory Payload