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2015-02-11
      19:30

Speaker's Night - Space Projects – From Concept to Reality

Eric Choi, Vice President, Responsive Space at Canadensys Aerospace Corporation

This presentation will provide a high-level overview of how space projects are undertaken and summarize how they are developed from initial concept to operational reality. A space project has many and varied facets that are complex interconnected pieces of a larger puzzle, in which the individual spacecraft is only the most compact and visible system element. The initialization of space projects first requires that the problem be documented in the form of requirements. Successful space project design transfers mission requirements into the descriptions of spacecraft, payloads, launch vehicles, orbital dynamics, communications infrastructures, operations and other segments necessary to meet the requirements. Continuing up the levels of integration are space missions and then entire space program architectures.  Examples (eg Phoenix (Mars), Canadarm2 (ISS) will be shown of the interaction amongst the segments of space project design, including examples of how both successful and unsuccessful mission concepts have emerged from the design process.

Eric Choi is Vice President, Responsive Space at Canadensys Aerospace Corporation. His career spans both the space and aviation sectors, including work on a number of innovative projects such as QEYSSat (Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite), the meteorology payload on the Phoenix Mars Lander, the Canadarm2 on the International Space Station, the RADARSAT-1 satellite and the MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) instrument on the Terra satellite. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering science and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering, both from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from York University. An alumnus of the International Space University, he has served on the ISU Board of Trustees and most recently chaired the Exoplanets project at the 2014 ISU session in Montréal. In 2009, he was one of the Top 40 finalists (out of 5,351 applicants) in the Canadian Space Agency’s astronaut recruitment campaign.

Besides his aerospace career, he is also an award-winning science fiction writer. With Derwin Mak, he co-edited the Aurora Award winning anthology The Dragon and the Stars, the first collection of speculative fiction by authors of the Chinese diaspora. His latest book is Carbide Tipped Pens, a new anthology co-edited with Ben Bova that features a number of space-themed stories.

Who can attend: everyone including non-members
Fee: free, free parking after 6pm
Reservation not needed
Location: Ontario Science Centre (Imperial Oil Auditorium)

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