MONTREAL - A team of Concordia University Engineering students has bagged top honours in an effort to build a satellite.
The team beat universities from across the country with its device, which took two years to build.
“There's no better prize than your work going to orbit,” said Concordia Engineering Student Tiago Leao.
Another colleague said that it was a learning effort.
“None of us have done anything like this before - space engineering - so there's a lot we had to learn,” said Concordia Engineering student Tyson Boer.
The result is a combination of high and low-tech materials including fishing line, a laptop battery and measuring tape, which forms the spring-loaded antenna.
That antenna will be used to send information gathered by sensors when their satellite is launched into orbit next year.
The satellite will be used to research the mysterious South Atlantic Anomaly, which is a formation of radiation over South America.
That radiation is a problem, as it causes electronics to malfunction.
“When astronauts on the International Space Station pass through it, they can close their eyes and they see little flashes of light,” said Team leader Nick Sweet.
Concordia hopes to develop a ground station to communicate with the satellite.
