McMaster University students are taking part in Canada’s space program, designing and building a satellite that will be launched into orbit in 2022.
The mini-satellite — roughly the size of a loaf of bread — will measure the properties of the potentially dangerous radiation that astronauts are exposed to during spacewalks. It will be launched and deployed from the International Space Station.
“We are at the stage of a new era of exploration,” says Fiona McNeill, director of McMaster’s Radiation Sciences Graduate programs. “But one of the problems we have is that space environments have some very serious health hazards. We are most concerned with cancer risks to astronauts who go on missions to Mars and are going to get a very large radiation dose when they are in space for years.”
Once in space, the satellite will begin a 9-month mission. Each time it passes over the university campus, it will beam down data which will be analyzed by researchers on the ground. So far, around 40 undergrad and graduate students have worked on the project, named NEUDOSE.
