Study in Canada: Waterloo students win microgravity research competition in Québec

The competition offered post-secondary students opportunities to participate in a microgravity research competition.

Study Abroad: Waterloo University's team of 11 undergraduate students participated in a microgravity research competition - the Canadian Reduced Gravity Experiment Design Challenge (CAN-RGX), which is the first microgravity research competition for students in Canada.

The students won the Overall Excellence Award after they got the chance to showcase their studies at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters in Longueuil, Quebec. The aim of their study was to create a method for improving in-space solder joints quality and in long-duration space missions, allow replacements of electrical components.

Megan Chang, a fourth-year mechatronics engineering student and founding member of the WSST (Waterloo Space Soldering Team) said, “We quickly expanded our team, got the approval from the Sedra Student Design Centre and began designing the project with advice and guidance from ​​Drs. Mayer and Conrard Giresse Tetsassi Feugmo.”

Ryan Mark, another fourth-year mechatronics engineering student said, “For us, the design cycle was very short since most traditional design teams at Waterloo have one- to two-year design cycles. The shorter design cycles teams often use parts from the previous year so they do not need to reinvent the wheel. For us, the research and the engineering had to happen ​​​​simultaneously.”

Team develops flexible design

The university said that despite all the challenges, the team created a design which was a flexible design which could adapt through multiple testing stages.

Devshi Per​e​ra, a fourth-year mechatronics engineering student said, “In our case, our soldering apparatus had to melt, cool and solidify as many solder joints as possible within 20 seconds. This time constraint was important because each parabolic ​flight ​maneuver allows for only 20 to 30 seconds of microgravity.”

“At the start of the project, it was not clear if we would even be able to get 10 samples within the 20-second time frame. A strong engineering project allowed for the collection of samples … and utilizing 16 parabolas from the flight allowed us to maximize the number of samples and deal with redundancy," said Chang.

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