Groupe aérospatial de l’Université Laval

Committed to Making Space Accessible to Québec Students

Did you know that the conquest of space was not something only the world’s super powers could aspire to? The proof is that right here in Québec, and more specifically at Université Laval, a multidisciplinary group made up of twenty or so students in engineering every year model and fully create the technology required to operate an actual rocket measuring several metres in length. Their current project, which was developed in 2005 and has been extended until 2010, involves designing a marketable supersonic double-decker launcher capable of putting small satellites in low orbit (at an altitude of approximately 250 km). These satellites will carry out short missions for pedagogical and industrial purposes.

Since 1993, the Groupe aérospatial de l’Université Laval (GAUL) has brought together students who pool their academic learning so as to perfect their knowledge and skills in the field of aerospace. In 2005, following a two-year break without a rocket launch, GAUL again joined forces with the aim of designing a new generation hybrid engine and a fully autonomous guidance system, two components that will help launch the rocket and put the nano-satellite into orbit. “By the very nature of the work, our group has adopted a progressive, innovative and continuously monitored approach that will eventually help reduce the costs linked to Québec’s access to space,” pointed out Nathaniel Zoso, the project’s spokesman.

In the near future, GAUL plans to launch an innovative contest for high school and college students who will be invited to submit ideas for scientific experiments. GAUL will then select an idea among the best proposals and make plans for trying out the experiment, which will be launched into space aboard the rocket. As well as making known the GAUL group to thousands of students outside the university milieu, the contest will also help arouse the interest of young people in aerospace and science in general.

Moreover, as Québec and Canada as a whole are not the only ones interested in access to space, every year GAUL participates in a European research project called the Projet étudiant de recherche spatial européen universitaire et scientifique (PERSEUS) offered by the French space agency CNES. The project is centred on the design, development and flight rating of a launching system for nano-satellites, the operational feasibility of which relies on the use of innovative solutions. “At a pedagogic level, it is vital to get the students involved in putting into practice the concepts resulting from their work, during both the ground and flight tests. It also gives us another opportunity to perfect our knowledge,” added the electrical engineering student.

GAUL’s project would of course be virtually impossible without the participation of Defence R&D Canada’s Valcartier centre. A partnership established a number of years ago enables the GAUL students to obtain the key components needed to develop the rocket’s hybrid propulsive unit. “Participating in GAUL has raised our awareness of the value of entrepreneurship, innovation, exchange and the development of the region’s comparative advantages. We are proud to be able to participate and to contribute our knowledge,” concluded Nathaniel Zoso.

Groupe aérospatial de l’Université Laval