This repository contains the content for the 2022/2023 Space School year. Spaceschool is completely created by QSET members for QSET members.
As a whole the Queen's Space Engineering Team (QSET) is committed to ensuring that the team is accessible to all students, regardless of technical background or experience. The goal of Space School is to provide new members of QSET Satellite with a dedicated team of students to help develop the necessary skills and knowledge to be an effective member of the team, bridging the gap to working on the complex satellite subsystems. Through having a devoted team tasked with onboarding and training new members you accomplish giving new members the support they need and you reduce the load of executive members which already have a full plate. If you complete Space School, which encompasses completing the labs in this repository and attending the weekly Space School meetings, you will create a toast satellite (toastSat), named for its toast like shape. Your toastSat will be launched on a high altitude balloon in the winter semester. The skills gained here are the basis for what you will need to know when you are working on our 3U cube satellite. 🛰️
Please note that you require NO PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE and we are here to support you on your entine toastSat building journey.
By the end of Space School you will gain experience in the following areas:
- Technical skills
- LAUNCHING SOMETHING INTO THE STRATOSPHERE 🚀
- Coding in C/C++
- Arduino
- CAD
- 3D printing
- Soldering
- Experience using microcontrollers
- Experience developing basic circuits
- Data sheets
- Working within design constraints
- deveoping system budgets (mass/power/data/ etc.)
- Team based skills
- Understanding of the satellite subsystems
- Intro to space engineering
- Get to know all the amazing people we have on the team 🙂
The week numbers correspond to the weeks of the school semester.
Semester One - Fall
- Week 3, Lab 1: Meet space school members and intro to Arduinos.
- Week 4, Lab 2: Arduinos, sensors, and GitHub.
- Week 5, Lab 3: Finish temperature sensor lab and make sure Git and GitHub are working.
- Fall Reading Week.
- Week 6, Lab 4: Soldering.
- Week 7, Lab 4: Makeup lab (soldering, etc.).
- Week 8, Lab 5: TOASTSAT PROJECTS BEGIN. Pick teams and discuss satellite missions.
- Week 9, Lab 6: Continue to learn about the ToastSat project, launch, and sensors for missions. Form groups. (Git workshop, highly recommend for those new to git).
- Week 10, Lab 7: Talk about OBC and Payload subsystems. Learn how we store data. (Python workshop).
- Week 11, Lab 8: Intro to satellite budgets. Decide on what mission and sensors your team will use. Start learning how to work with the sensor. (SolidWorks workshop, important!).
- Week 12: optional work session (no lab for last week of class).
Semester Two - Winter
- Week 1, Lab 9: Intro to ACDS and EPS subsystems. Start designing your circuit (research sensor requirements, voltage from battery, etc.).
- Week 2, Lab 10: Circuit design.
- Week 3, Lab 10: Code.
- Week 4, Lab 11: Code.
- Week 5, Lab 11: Intro to Mech and Comms. Start CAD stucture.
- Week 6, Lab 11: Integration.
- Winter Reading Week.
- Week 7, Lab 12: Integration.
- Remainder of the semester will be spent integrating all members onto a sub-team of their choice. Might add a lesson on job and internship opportunities in space.
PLEASE give us any feedback you have. You can either send any of us individual messages, fill out the feedback form or both!
Many years ago in 2019 Emma Paczkowski and Sydney Caulfeild had just finished their first year on QSET as a first year. Although they had spent a whole year on the team they did not accomplish much as they had hoped and they were sad to see the 50 first year students that started in september diminish to only 4 at the end of the year. To help both the experience of new members on the team as well as to increase retention the idea of Space School was born. Over the 3 years it has run the structure has changed and improved. This can be attributed to the wonderful additions of Thomas Seans (the space expert, team mentor and pheonimal presenter), Sean Tedesco (incredible lab writer resonsible and the current CTO) and Piper Steffen (2021/2022 space school organizer). We hope that space school will remain an accessible option for new members looking to bridge the gap between their knowledge and the complex subsystem projects!
Feel free to email or message on teams.
Sydney Caulfeild: 17sc94@queensu.ca
Thomas Sears: thomas.sears@queensu.ca
Sean Tedesco: 17sart@queensu.ca
Emma Paczkowski: emma.paczkowski@queensu.ca
Kate Szabo: kate.szabo@queensu.ca