A group of undergraduate students studying mechanical and mechatronics engineering with the help of students in Systems Design Engineering and Arts recently participated in the Canadian Reduced Gravity Experiment Design Challenge (CAN-RGX). They presented their research at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters in Longueuil, Quebec, and won the Overall Excellence Award.
This competition allows post-secondary students to design, build, and test a scientific payload aboard the National Research Council of Canada’s Falcon 20. This is a twin-engine jet that can be modified for use in microgravity experiments in association with the Canadian Space Agency.
To participate in this competition, the group formed the Waterloo Space Soldering Team (WSST). When they pitched the project in October 2023, they started as a group of four. Once the team was selected for their design, they knew they needed to expand their team, so they added seven more members. The team also had the guidance of Dr. Michael Mayer, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering to help bring their design to fruition.
Usually, design teams have a 1-2 year design cycle, but the team needed to move fast to get their design ready for the competition in 2024, so they had to do the research and design simultaneously. Even with the time crunch, the team was able to develop a design that was flexible enough to adapt through multiple stages of testing. “In our case, our soldering apparatus had to melt, cool and solidify as many solder joints as possible within 20 seconds,” shares Devshi Perera, a fourth-year mechatronics engineering student. “This time constraint was important because each parabolic flight maneuver allows for only 20 to 30 seconds of microgravity.”
Even though the team had limited time, they developed a design that was flexible enough to adapt through multiple stages of testing.
One of the team’s most significant accomplishments was completing the experiment after several design iterations. Across two flights and 16 parabolic maneuvers, the team obtained 790 samples that can now be analyzed for research—an experiment that no one has ever done before. Now, after the competition, the team will analyze the joint samples using a microscope and image-processing software to determine the void percentage inside each joint. Some of these joints will also undergo mechanical strength and conductivity tests to provide additional analysis.
Learn more about the team’s impressive solution in Waterloo students win microgravity research competition in Québec.