[Via Satellite 04-24-2015] Canadian aerospace company Magellan Aerospace <\/b>recently unveiled its new Advanced Satellite Integration Facility (ASIF) in partnership with the University of Manitoba <\/b>that the company believes will foster a productive relationship between academia and industry. The Winnipeg-based 6,000-square-foot facility aims to expand not only Magellan\u2019s own satellite operations, but also the presence of the nearby university in the satellite-engineering field.<\/p>\n
To date, Magellan has designed and launched three satellites, including Scisat, a SmallSat the Canadian Space Agency <\/b>(CSA) launched more than 10 years ago to study ozone depletion in the atmosphere. The company also developed Cassiope, which was launched just over a year ago to conduct space environment research as well as advanced telecommunications technology demonstrations. Through those previous projects, Magellan has often employed engineers and technicians at the university to help the company find a better way of doing things.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a long relationship with the University of Manitoba and previously did a number of study contracts with them on various materials or different types of research studies. We both wanted to have a more formal arrangement in place,\u201d Don Boitson, vice president and general manager of Magellan Aerospace, told Via Satellite<\/i>.<\/p>\n
When the opportunity arose to come to research, develop, construct and test new satellite components at the ASIF, both agreed the partnership would help expand Canada\u2019s presence in the satellite field. The aims of the facility are two-fold, according to Boitson, the first being to allow engineering students to gain a hands-on, industry-based education.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough the partnership, university students are able to lead the increase in technology in the state sector in Western Canada. They\u2019ll be involved in their own Industrial Research Chair and looking at various opportunities and experiments that they can carry out in this advanced facility embedded in our company,\u201d said Boitson. \u201cThe goals for us are to enhance the experience of the university program and curriculum to enable more real-time or science work for the engineers.\u201d<\/p>\n
One such experiment that students are currently conducting at the facility is a project to find innovative solutions for Micrometeorites and Orbital Debris (MMOD) shield protection, which aims to asses and develop ways to protect satellites and the International Space Station (ISS) from space junk. It is independent programs such as this, as well as those that Magellan will conduct in conjunction with research students, that the company believes will make all the difference as far as expanding Canada\u2019s space presence.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, whether those engineers go on to work at Magellan or work wherever in the space or manufacturing sector, we think it\u2019s a very positive experience on that aspect as far as the learning of the students,\u201d said Boitson.<\/p>\n
The second aim of the facility, however, is to allow for Magellan to grow its own capabilities, particularly in the way of new contracts the company has established with its major customer for satellite programs and buses, the CSA.<\/p>\n
The new ASIF is large enough to accommodate up to three satellites at various stages of assembly, with ceilings high enough to accommodate crane-lifting requirements. It\u2019s also an International Standard Organization (ISO) class 8 cleanroom facility that will allow the company to conduct operations in the particular manufacturing environment necessary to satisfy the requirements of the future satellite programs initiated by the Government of Canada.<\/p>\n
Magellan is currently working on a number of small and medium study contracts, but the largest involves a $110 million contract awarded in 2013 to design and build three Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM) satellites for the CSA. The CSA\u2019s RCM mission aims to provide twenty-four-hour-a-day C-band data to augment and extend the information that Canadian users rely on for maritime surveillance, disaster management and ecosystem monitoring. The constellation is set to launch in 2018, and thanks to the new facility Magellan will have the space they need to build it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would not have been able to manufacture the three radar constellation mission satellite buses without this new facility. The size of the spacecraft and the quantity of buses that we\u2019re manufacturing require a larger facility than we previously had for carrying out this kind of work,\u201d said Boitson. \u201cThat\u2019s the bulk of the work that is going to be taking place at the Advanced Satellite Integration Facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Going forward, Boitson sees the company focusing mainly on SmallSats to satisfy the needs of the CSA. He hinted that Magellan is also exploring business opportunities outside of the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at expanding our market internationally with either the bus, the components or the associated engineering,\u201d said Boitson. And the ASIF may just allow research students to lead the way to the global market. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that, with this program, the University of Manitoba establishes itself as a leader in aerospace engineering and enable us as industry to grow to meet the opportunities in the market. That\u2019s why we invested in it and that\u2019s what we\u2019re both counting on for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[Via Satellite 04-24-2015] Canadian aerospace company Magellan Aerospace recently unveiled its new Advanced Satellite Integration Facility (ASIF) in partnership with the University of Manitoba that the company believes will foster a productive relationship between academia and industry. The Winnipeg-based 6,000-square-foot facility aims to expand not only Magellan\u2019s own satellite operations, but also the presence of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74371"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}