We’re constantly looking for new, motivated members to join the USST. If you’re entrepreneurial minded and are looking for real world experience in a job-like atmosphere on a ground breaking project, this could be for you!
This is a great opportunity to learn things that won’t be taught in university but that future employers will expect from you. We’re interested in running our projects as efficiently as possible, so each individual member will be given a lot of responsibility and will always be doing relevant work. As a result, we expect that applicants will be dedicated to the team and will have both flexible schedules and excellent time management skills.
Above all, the USST functions as a constant learning environment. Even if you aren’t necessarily familiar with everything initially, our members will consistently be offering you opportunities to learn.
Commerce
While we have listed a series of specific positions, we are always looking for new members of any discipline. Just send us an email and we’ll try our best to find a place for you on the team!
Corporate Relations
We are currently looking for a team of commerce students from all disciplines to handle a series of activities related to corporate relations within the USST. Members will mainly be focusing on helping the USST raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed for our satellite project. Leadership experience is an asset. Duties will include:
- Brainstorming fundraising ideas
- Planning events
- Contacting businesses, setting up meetings, and assisting with negotiations
Contact financial.director@usst.ca for more information.
Accounting
We are currently looking for accounting students to assist our accounting team in the role of a Jr. Accountant. The USST deals with a large operating budget in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars which would undoubtedly serve as great experience to any future accountants.
Contact treasurer@usst.ca for more information.
Marketing
We are currently looking for a few students to assist our marketing director in helping to promote our team. Duties would mainly include raising awareness about the USST across campus in a variety of different forms.
Contact financial.director@usst.ca for more information.
Human Resources
We are currently looking for two commerce students (a junior and a senior position) interested in assisting with the human resources side of the USST. Duties will include the recruitment, training, and succession planning of members. Leadership experience is an asset.
Contact financial.director@usst.ca for more information.
Engineering and Design
While we have listed a series of specific positions, we are always looking for new members of any discipline. For more information about the specific tasks you would be performing within our various teams, see below.
Electrical and Computer Engineers
We are currently seeking members for the following roles:
- Power systems development and design for a satellite
- Integration and testing
- Mission planning and mission control for power systems
- Hardware/software interfacing
- Hardware computer systems design and integration
- RF/microwave design fabrication, testing, and integration for satellite communications and payload system
- Antenna systems design, fabrication, testing, and integration
- Control systems design and implementation
and other general tasks. Contact vpeng@usst.ca for more information.
Mechanical Engineers
We are currently seeking members for the following roles:
- Deployment mechanisms
- Propulsion systems for future generations
- Structural design including thermal modelling and finite element modelling
- Mechanical integration of all subsystems
- Attitude control and position coordination systems design, implementation, and testing
and other general tasks. Contact vpeng@usst.ca for more information.
Team Descriptions
Payload
You’ll be tasked with the exciting role of designing the scientific mission for our satellite. The satellite will take total electron content (TEC) measurements as it orbits to determine plasma densities in the ionosphere. This research can be applied to improving the performance and reliability of satellite communications used in everything from satellite TV to connecting people to the internet. This research can also be linked to some of the ways the Sun affects our atmosphere, which is essential to understanding phenomenon such as weather and climate change. Finally, there is the potential marketability of this novel technique and instrument that the team is currently pursuing.
Contact payload@usst.ca for more information.
Command and Data Handling
The brains of the operation. You’ll help to design both the on-board software and hardware that control all aspects of our satellite. This includes scheduling tasks through the eCos Real Time Operating System (RTOS), microprocessor programming, data storage and compression, forward error correction, and circuit design.
Contact command@usst.ca for more information.
Telemetry
You’ll be in charge of making sure our satellite and ground stations can talk to each other from distances upwards of 650km. You’ll be designing custom lightweight folding antenna, a ground station powerful enough to pick up even the faintest of signals from our satellite, and determining the best location for the USST’s main ground station.
Contact telemetry@usst.ca for more information.
Power
You’ll be in charge of making sure our satellite has enough power to deploy instrumentation after launch, collect payload and position data, and transmit and receive data to and from Earth. We’ve already found some great space-grade solar panels and a light but powerful LiPo battery; now we need your help to design the circuitry that will carry and regulate power to the rest of the satellite. We’ll need to design and populate custom Printed Circuit Boards, test the performance of the solar panels, and work with C&DH to define the power schemes for the satellite’s various operational modes.
Contact power@usst.ca for more information.
Structures
We need your help to design and analyze a frame capable of withstanding the intense vibrations of a rocket launch, determine how to mount all of our components inside a tiny satellite, deploy scientific instruments after launch, and shield our satellite from harmful radiation. You’ll have access to SolidWorks for 3D modeling and NEiNastran and FEMAP software: industry standard finite element software for analyzing the thermal performance and strength of our frame. Once the theoretical design is done, we’ve got access to a rapid prototyper, so we can easily test configurations before we go into full scale manufacturing where you’ll work closely with our Engineering Shops to build our satellite frame.
Contact structures@usst.ca for more information.
Attitude Control and Determination
Now a project under the direction of the structures team, you’re responsible for determining where our satellite is pointing in space and making sure it is pointing where we want it to. Who ever said there was no gravity in space? Instead of using complicated dynamic techniques to control our orientation (attitude), we will exploit the microgravity in our Low Earth Orbit to orient our satellite towards Earth using a gravity boom… but don’t be fooled, it isn’t that straight forward. We need your help to design this deployable boom, as the satellite’s center of gravity has to line up with the geometric center of the satellite during launch. We also need your help to design and implement sensors to determine our satellite’s rotation rates to make sense of our scientific data.
Contact structures@usst.ca for more information.