Grants and Contributions

The Experimental Albertan Satellite #2 (Ex-Alta 2) will expand an open-source platform to include accessible, open-source satellite software, electronic, and mechanical designs to increase Canadian and world access to space. The CubeSat will test an imaging instrument designed to collect information for predicting, tracking, and monitoring the impact of wildfire on vegetation and land. It will also fly a flux-gate magnometer, an instrument designed to monitor and better understand the effects of space weather on our communications systems.

The CubeSat will be developed in collaboration with Aurora College, Yukon College, the University of Calgary, the University of Saskatchewan, York University, the University of Oslo in Norway, von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Belgium and the University of Iowa in the USA.

Concordia's CHIRad-Sat will test an imaging instrument to collect data on dust measurements and will study the effect of climate change in the Kluane Lake region. The CubeSat will also evaluate the viability of a new electronic component that shows better resistance to the harsh conditions of space and that could improve the cost-effectiveness and performance of future CubeSat computers.

CHIRad-Sat will be developed in collaboration with the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble (France), the University of Montreal and Let's Talk Science. Industrial participation such as Quebec-based MDA, MPB Communications, Ontarian-based Mission Control Space Services, Kalray S.A. (France), Spectrum Aerospace Group (Germany), will additionally collaborate with Concordia University.

AuroraSat will promote and share Indigenous culture across Canada through northern images, a project that will take northern art to space, where pictures of various pieces will be taken with Earth in the background. The CubeSat will also promote and share Indigenous culture across Canada through northern voices; engage amateur radio across the country with stories and messages in Indigenous languages. It will additionally be promoted through games by creating a globally interactive game for amateur radio operators. Special recordings played only in certain geographic zones will require global cooperation in order to decode a whole message. Messages and content will be developed on the subjects of northern Indigenous history and language.

The Aurora Research Institute of Aurora College will be collaborating with Yukon College, the University of Alberta, Nunavut Artic College, University of Alberta North and the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure to create their CubeSat.

The YukonSat will focus on promoting STEM and engage the community through 3 main initiatives. The first initiative is coding challenges open to Yukon youth and the public, using data gathered from YukonSat. For example, students could be challenged to create a collage of satellite images of a certain region of Earth. The second initiative is coding challenges to transmit and receive short voice recordings. Yukon schools, First Nations, communities, and other groups will have the opportunity to spread their messages to other parts of Canada and the world through a scavenger hunt-style challenge. The third initiative is data analysis and interpretation completed in Yukon College math and science courses. For example, students could learn about instrumentation, signal processing and data analysis methods while completing an activity to map earth's magnetic forces using GPS and magnetometer data from a satellite built by their peers.

YukonSat will be developed in collaboration with the University of Alberta, Aurora College and Natural Resources Canada.

This project aims to enhance economic empowerment and increase prosperity for low-income women and youth, particularly female youth, in the West Bank. The project seeks to achieve this by adopting a gender transformative approach to recognise, formalise, and amplify women’s existing roles in the agricultural sector. This focuses on the olive oil and agro-food processing value chains while promoting women’s increased decision-making and control over income, assets and productive resources. Project activities include: (1) conducting policy advocacy initiatives to address policy barriers to women's entrepreneurship; (2) providing entrepreneurship and business management training opportunities for women; (3) supporting access to sustainable financial solutions for women in women-led micro-small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and agricultural cooperatives; and (4) designing and implementing renewable energy placement programs for women and female youth apprentices or trainees, focusing on students and recent graduates.

The purpose of the program is to provide support to organizations that undertake projects that that contribute to the development and implementation of coastal zone plans, identify restoration priorities, implement projects, and address threats to marin