3U cubesat for the Canadian satellite design challenge: A Polytechnique Montréal and University of Bologna Cooperation

We introduce a joint research project that stems from the international collaboration between Polytechnique Montréal (Quebec, Canada) and the University of Bologna (Italy), partners in the second edition of the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge. This collaboration represents a great opportunity to learn the keys of successful international teamwork and to experience different cultures. To pursue this goal, the team is structured as we would see in commercial missions; a customer and a contractor. The customer is Polytechnique Montréal, who will design the satellite structure and subsystems. University of Bologna will act as a contractor and will develop the primary payload. The teams will work in their respective country, but have regular meetings via teleconference. The organization of this project represents an important educational aspect that both teams will retain. The mission itself consists of the development of a 3U CubeSat whose primary payload is a deorbiting system based on an innovative drag sail. The research objective is to test the deployment of the sail and to evaluate its performance in terms of orbit lifetime reduction. The deorbiting system is developed by the team located in University of Bologna and is designed as a plug-and-play module to make its integration effortless and affordable. The separation will also make the deorbiting system robust to failures. The secondary payload is an image capturing system for Earth observation. This system provides images of the Canadian Arctic region for research of the Geocryolab (Laboratory of Geotechnics and Geomorphology of Cold Regions) of the Université de Montréal, to study the evolution of periglacial landforms. In addition, with the images captured by this system available for free on our website, we hope to raise the awareness of the effects of global warming. Finally, the satellite's structure is designed not only to support this particular mission, but also to be modifiable for multiple nano-satellite configurations. The project also aims at promoting interest for spacecraft systems engineering, satellites and international cooperation throughout our communities. This will be achieved with strong outreach of our project, the challenges we faced and the way they were solved. ©2013 by the International Astronautical Federation. All rights reserved.