The Honourable Bernard Davis, Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation, today announced $200,000 to support the design and development of the province’s first Earth observation satellite, to be called Killick-1. This four-year project is a joint initiative of C-CORE and Memorial University’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. The Canadian Space Agency also supported this initiative with $200,000 through its Canadian CubeSat Project.
This project will allow for the availability of high quality data on sea ice and ocean parameters, and will assist the provincial offshore oil and gas industry, in addition to fisheries science and transportation routes. Killick-1 will be a CubeSat, which is a nano-satellite comparable to the size of a one-litre milk carton. Killick-1 is scheduled to be launched from the International Space Station in 2022.
The project team for Killick-1 consists of more than 40 graduate and undergraduate engineering students from Memorial University’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Students are involved in designing the CubeSat structure, power management, communications, command and control, and payload.
Quotes
“When completed, this Newfoundland and Labrador built and operated Earth observation satellite will be a true sign of the resources and capabilities we have right here in our very own province. Supporting this project reaffirms our government’s efforts to support engineering students in the province, develop highly skilled jobs, and further grow the economy. I applaud C-CORE’s ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit, which has been instrumental in our heightened importance on innovation.”
Honourable Bernard Davis
Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation
“The Killick-1 project will contribute significantly to the development in this province of highly qualified personnel in space systems and Earth observation. These are inter-related emerging fields of expertise in the evolving global trend of big data analytics to support business, industry and public policy decisions. Over the course of the project, we expect to engage over 40 senior engineering undergraduates, two Master of Engineering candidates and one PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering.”
Dr. Weimin Huang
Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University
“The ocean plays a huge role in the global climate system and hosts a broad range of human activities; therefore, good knowledge of our oceans is critical. Killick-1 will operate in space with a low environmental footprint, safely gathering observational data to advance understanding of our planet and mitigate risk to people and the environment.”
Paul Griffin
President and CEO, C-CORE
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Media contacts
Eric Humber
Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation
709-729-4819, 725-9655
erichumber@gov.nl.ca
Deirdre Greene-Lono
C-CORE
709-864-3083, 689-1012
deirdre.greene-lono@c-core.ca
Jackey Locke
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University
709-864-8287, 691-5027
jackey.locke@mun.ca