The term assembly refers to a product which is assembled from multiple parts. Each part needs to fit together correctly in order for the product to be assembled. A fit check is the process of assembling the product while checking the fit of all the parts…
Read MoreThe ORCASat Earth station will be located on the University of Victoria campus. This facility will consist of a network operations centre as part of the Centre of Aerospace Research in Engineering Office Wing, Room # 148, as well as a gateway Earth station as part of the Propagation Laboratory in Engineering Laboratory Wing, Room # 402…
Read MoreHere is a collection of our payload module components that have been recently manufactured by Rainhouse Canada and the UVic Faculty of Science Machine Shop. We don’t have too much to say about them besides what they are, so enjoy some photos of one-of-kind precision machined components!
Read MoreThe launch and operation of any spacecraft requires government approval. ORCASat is no exception to this. Various licenses and permits need to be obtained which deal with a wide range of areas like exporting the spacecraft to the launch provider, or radio communication…
Read MoreThe Attitude Determination and Control System is what allows the spacecraft to point in a specific direction while in space. It determines the spacecraft attitude (the spacecraft orientation in space) and if it is not pointing towards Earth…
Read MoreOne of the primary deployable components of the ORCASat spacecraft is its dipole antenna. The dipole must remain stowed during its journey to the ISS, after ORCASat is released into space however we need to deploy the antenna in order to establish contact…
Read MoreAs part of the verification test campaign for the dipole antenna for ORCASat, it is important to measure the absolute gain and gain pattern of this antenna…
Read MoreWe’d like to thank a local industry sponsor for their tremendous support for the ORCASat project, Foreman CNC Machining, for machining two of our satellites structural components…
Read MoreThe battery pack is a critical component of the spacecraft. Not only is the battery pack required for continuous operation during the eclipse periods, it is also required to supplement the solar array for peak-power load conditions…
Read MoreA core goal of the ORCASat project is to provide unmatched opportunities for students to gain skills in space science and technology. It’s part of our mission statement: train Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) by developing a space mission…
Read MoreOne critical component of any TT&C subsystem is the radio antenna. ORCASat is no exception, we use a deployable half wavelength dipole, which we designed for the UHF amateur satellite allocation, between 435-438 MHz…
Read MoreAs of September 2021, we have officially kicked off our Assembly, Integration, and Testing phase of the project, marked by completion of the FlatSat v1 milestone…
Read MoreThe ORCASat team has decided to transition from social media platforms to this blog. We aim to post regular updates about our progress here.
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