Robert Dick M.Eng., P.Eng. P.O. Box 79 Rideau Ferry, Ontario K0G 1W0 CANADA
| Contributions: | High Purity Germanium Furnace (CSA) Wind Imaging Interferometer (CSA-WINDII on UARS Satellite) Waves in Space Plasma (WISP for Space Shuttle Synthetic Aperture Radar (Radarsat I) Michelson Interferometer (MIPAS for ESA) Satellite Design Course (Instructor at Carleton University) |
Space is an unforgiving environment. It exposes hardware to extreme conditions in which unprotected humans cannot survive. The initial design work has an imaginative and creative component. After which the application of good engineering principles are applied.
My interest in satellite instrumentation began with the challenge our design teams faced when developing the hardware for several satellite payloads for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) that would either fly on the Space Shuttle, or were satellite payloads:
As a hobbyist I have made several telescope mirrors and cobbled together surplus parts for a few spectrographs. I am not an optician so I leave the finer points to those with the knowledge and tools to make the best possible instruments. However these home projects, and a lot of tinkering, have helped me guide the engineering to more reliable products. It also makes the work fun. |
As a lead engineer in the Space Exploration Engineering Group at Carleton University in Ottawa, I had the privilege of working with students as they develop micro satellite subsystems and payloads.
Each academic year the class took a mission statement and refined the requirements and developed preliminary designs. These were passed on to students the following year for further refinement. The dedication of these students to make their project a success kept me connected with the enthusiasm I have for solving problems. Here is a list of some of these micro satellite projects.
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