As the Canadian Space Agency announces the final results of its national astronaut recruitment campaign, space is big news this month. Yet for researchers and students at engineering schools across Canada, contemplating the universe is a part of everyday life.
Aerospace engineering graduate Jared Pelletier with the Lunar micro-penetrator he built as a fourth-year engineering project at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Aerospace engineering graduate Jared Pelletier with the Lunar micro-penetrator he built as a fourth-year engineering project at Carleton University in Ottawa.
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Of course, being engineers, these researchers are more focused on the practical issues around exploring the universe. From improving the view into space through powerful telescopes, to developing better machines for planetary exploration and developing satellites that help us get a better picture of life on earth, space researchers are helping to push exploration in all directions. Here's how:
A small part to see the big picture
Helping to build the world's largest radio telescope has been a long-term interest for assistant professor Leo Belostotski at the University of Calgary's Schulich School of Engineering. The University of Calgary is the lead Canadian institution on the $3-billion international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, which aims to be 50 times more sensitive and survey the sky 10,000 times faster than any previous imaging radio telescope. Institutions from 19 countries are involved in the project, with a timeline to be completed in 2020. Dr. Belostotski made the SKA the focus of his master's degree, and, more than ten years later, he is still contributing to its development.
Given the size and scope of the project, research teams from many universities are each working on very specialized aspects. Dr. Belostotski's contribution is to design receivers that will filter out noise so that the data collected from so far away is not distorted. "If a radio is not tuned to the channel properly you can barely hear anything," says Dr. Belostotski by way of analogy. "Similarly the signal that comes from the sky is so weak it is already buried in noise and we don't want to add any more."
He adds that researchers at other universities are also tackling this problem. Devising multiple solutions for each component will help scientists to see which solutions will work best for the final telescope. At the moment, demonstrators are being built at three different locations and the location for the SKA will be selected in 2011, with the likeliest being South Africa and Australia, given their positioning in relation to the Milky Way.
While the project sounds like an astronomer's dream, with its potential to reveal more about what happened in the middle ground between the Big Bang and star formation, Dr. Belostotski's interest lies more in the applied aspect, the challenge of the instrumentation. "Scientists have all these ideas of what they would like to do and that's where engineers come in; we tell them what's possible," says Dr. Belostotski. "They came up with five major scientific goals for the telescope in the early 1990s and we tried to figure out which ones we could meet and how well."
Lithe robots and satellite traffic
Beyond mapping space, other aerospace engineers are working on how to improve research on the planets themselves. At Carleton University's department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Alex Ellery, associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Space Robotics and Space Technology, focuses on space robotics.
His focus is on an area called biomimetics, which studies animal movements in order to make robot arms act more like human arms. "You imagine robots to be clunky or jerky and we want to make them more graceful so they move like animals," says Dr. Ellery.
Dr. Ellery also wants to make rovers more intelligent so they can problem-solve on their own and increase the speed of their research. Currently, due to the distance and line of sight, it takes four days for commands to reach a robot on a planet like Mars, so when an unexpected interruption happens — say a ditch in the rover's path — that time is doubled as the rover sends data back. With greater sophistication, it could realize it needs to move around the ditch.
Anton de Ruiter, an assistant professor also at Carleton, is also looking at how to make things run more smoothly in space. Joining the university after a postdoctoral position at the Canadian Space Agency, Dr. de Ruiter works on using atmospheric drag to maintain control over the distances between satellites so that they don't crash into each other.
He says the main advantage to atmospheric drag is in its simplicity. "If you're using aerodynamic drag, you don't have to carry a propulsion system on board, so you're not limited by running out of propellant [fuel used to propel satellites]," says Dr. de Ruiter.
Brought to you by space researchers
While space research is valuable in itself, crossover applications into other engineering fields can also be exciting. Carleton associate professor Tarik Kaya works on thermal control of electronics on spacecraft, to figure out ways of getting rid of the extra heat generated by electronics, or keeping parts like batteries or fuel lines from freezing. His work focuses on refining an existing technology, called heat pipes, that help to transfer the heat using pressure and porous materials.
Heat pipes use porous materials, sidestepping the reliability problems or unnecessary vibrations associated with pumps with moving elements. While this research started in space, Dr. Kaya notes that heat pipes are now used extensively in cooling desktop and laptop computers. He just started a four-year project in collaboration with Japanese researchers to refine the process, primarily in order to bring down costs.
Space-related research also helps to see the earth more clearly. At York University's Space Engineering program, researchers have built a tiny spectrometer attached to a microsatellite to look directly down from space and observe carbon dioxide on earth. "The objective is to survey for pollution sources," says Brendan Quine, associate professor and the program's director, adding that the project is a Canadian first and could have practical ramifications for monitoring pollution and adding a layer of accountability to the Kyoto pollution taxation system, which is currently based on self-reporting.
Dr. Quine notes that, besides microsatellites and instrumentation, York's other research thrust is to focus on big innovations, such as a space elevator currently being developed.
'A whole new game' means a different mindset
Besides engaging in their own research, engineering professors also train the next generation. While programs often start with a common year before specialization, by fourth year the focus is often on the practical, with students working collaboratively on projects that they develop and document, often all the way to prototype.
At York, for instance, students have built spectrometers, star cameras, and micro-rovers all the way to prototype with documentation. "There are two components to a good engineering education," says York's Dr. Quine. "You need academic, but also practical, training."
Programs also tend to encourage engineers to be open to new ideas, particularly as research advances into unknown territory. "You have to have a more adventurous mindset in many respects," says Carleton's Dr. Ellery. "Exploration programs are changing — moving from fly-bys to putting spacecraft on the surface of other planets. That's a whole new game, and the challenges involved are immense. Sixty per cent of spacecraft sent to Mars failed, so engineers have to open minds to new ideas and concepts."
Dr. Ellery's philosophies are shared by Carleton mechanical and aerospace engineering department chair Metin Yaras. "My message to students is: First and foremost, you're being trained as an engineer, so while you're specialized, you should be prepared to adapt once you're in the industry. As an engineer, you need to learn throughout your career. The main skill they develop is to learn how to learn."
Special to The Globe and Mail
