Bruce County designed satellite headed to space
Dr. Eric Johnston is preparing to launch a satellite he helped create at the Nuclear Innovation Institute in Port Elgin, Ont., into space.
“For the last year and half, there was not the actual equipment that’s going to space, but the prototypes of them, being developed in our houses here in town,” said Johnston, the Nuclear Innovation Institute’s Chief Innovation Officer
Johnston, Dr. Andrei Hanu, a Senior Scientist at Bruce Power, and McMaster University’s Dr. Soo-Hyun Byun, have spent the past eight years designing and creating a satellite that could measure radiation in space.
To make trips to Mars possible, astronauts need to know what kind and dose of radiation they would endure.
The radiation detection device at the core of the satellite mimics human fat tissue, absorbing space radiation and reporting those measurements back to Earth.
“The Nuclear Innovation Institute and Bruce Power actually funded the development of the radiation detector itself, which has some use here terrestrially as well. So, it was like, ‘oh, we can create this really cool instrument that we’re going to use in space, and will bring us towards a detector that we can also use here on Earth’,” said Johnston.
The NEUDOSE nano-satellite, no bigger than a slice of bread, is hitching a ride aboard a Space X rocket to the International Space Station next week.
A NEUDOSE satellite, partially created and designed by two Bruce County scientists and funded in part by Bruce Power and the Nuclear Innovation Institute, is being sent to space on a Space X rocket on Tuesday, March 14, 2023. (Source: Kayla Da Silva/McMaster University)
Johnston and his fellow scientists are heading to Florida to watch their creation launch into orbit.
“It’ll be a few months before it actually gets deployed. It’ll get sort of thrown out the back, for lack of a better term, from the space station, and that’s how it gets its orbit,” said Johnston.
Johnston says the NEUDOSE satellite will spend between nine months and two years in space transmitting radiation data back to McMaster, when it reaches line of sight, as it circles the globe.
“It’s just awesome that, that kind of work, can happen in a community like ours, of 17,000 residents, in rural Ontario. It’s amazing to think that we can be part of sending people to Mars,” said Saugeen Shores Mayor Luke Charbonneau.
The NEUDOSE satellite heads to the International Space Station on Tuesday, March 14. Shortly thereafter, a piece of technology created, designed, and funded in Bruce County, will be floating outside Earth’s atmosphere. Johnston said, he can’t wait.
Dr. Eric Johnston working on scientific theories at the Nuclear Innovation Institute in Port Elgin, Ont., where he helped design and create the NEUDOSE satellite that will be entering space on Tuesday, March 14, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
'Unacceptable': Trudeau reacts after AFN chief says headdress taken from plane cabin
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief said her headdress was taken from an airplane cabin this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the incident 'unacceptable' and a 'mistake' on the part of Air Canada.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
From faulty kids' cribs to flammable kids' bathrobes, here are the recalls of the week
Health Canada issued recalls for various items this week, including kids’ bathrobes, cribs and henna cones.
Taylor Swift dons Montreal designer's dress in 'Fortnight' video
A pair of Montreal designers' work has now been viewed over 41 million times. Taylor Swift dons a Victorian throwback black gown in her latest music video, 'Fortnight', designed by UNTTLD due Simon Belanger and Jose Manuel Saint-Jacques.
'Too young to have breast cancer': Rates among young Canadian women rising
Breast cancer rates are rising in Canada among women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, according to research by the University of Ottawa (uOttawa).
'Violation': CSIS had officer investigated after she reported a superior raped her
A CSIS officer's allegations that she was raped repeatedly by a superior in agency vehicles set off a harassment inquiry, but also triggered an investigation into her that concluded the alleged attacks were a “misuse” of agency vehicles by the woman.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.