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WHO ARE WE?
We are a student and alumni group from the University of Saskatchewan who are dedicated to the development of next generation space technologies. Consisting of over 50 members, the USST has demonstrated an extremely high degree of ability, innovation and spirit in all of our endeavors. We are proud to be raising awareness of both Canada and Saskatchewan’s role in the research and development of new technologies, and we are striving to inspire and excite the imaginations of the public.
WHAT ARE WE DOING?
For the last three years, we have participated in the Elevator: 2010 Competition, which is a NASA sponsored Centennial Challenge. The goal of the competition is to accelerate the development of technologies, and prove the feasibility, necessary in construction of a Space Elevator. In particular, development of power beaming technology and super strong and light tethers are being focused on in this competition.
The USST has competed in the Power Beaming Challenge each year of the competition, and has placed every year. We are now currently hard at work developing our system for this year’s competition.
OUR TEAM
The U of S Space Design Team (USST) is a team of students and alumni, spanning a variety of disciplines, from the University of Saskatchewan. Building on a tradition of success, we aim to go higher and faster! The engineering challenges are great, requiring the skills of a variety of disciplines. Our success to date has relied on our multi-disciplinary approach, and expanding that approach can only make us better.
OUR VISION
Founded in January of 2005, the initially small group was determined to demonstrate that U of S students can compete with the very best, in the highest levels of competition. Our goal, through successful participation in international space engineering competitions, is to inspire fellow students and alumni, and promote public interest in new approaches to the development of space and space-launch technologies.
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ELEVATOR 2010: CLIMBER COMPETITION
The past three years, the USST has had the best climber runs in the Spaceward Foundation's Elevator: 2010 Power Beaming Challenge. Robots have climbed tethers before, but none with power beamed to them from high-intensity light sources on the ground!
The applications of power beaming are wide-ranging, well beyond constructing a Space Elevator. In 2005 we climbed the highest and in 2006 we climbed the fastest (55 meters in 57 seconds), almost snagging a prize purse sponsored by NASA. In 2007 we were the only laser powered team to qualify and compete. We set world records for most power transfered using a laser and again came just short of winning the prize.
The USST was able to display large posters with sponsor logos during each competition. All logos and team multimedia, including hardware, was also on display with the USST during Cameco Spectrum, 2007. |
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