Manitoba-designed satellite heading to International Space Station

A project created by students and faculty at the University of Manitoba will be blasting off into space later this spring to conduct research.

A Cube Satellite (CubeSat) known as Iris developed by the U of M has been selected by the Canadian Space Agency to be transported to the International Space Station. It will eventually be placed into space for asteroid research.

“It’s amazing to be able to say at 23 that I get to contribute to a satellite going into space,” said Andrew Bowman, project manager for the Iris CubeSat mission. “And for all of us who contribute to this, it's amazing to start our careers in aerospace engineering with an actual satellite actually going to the ISS and into space.”

Iris is roughly the size of a two-litre milk carton. Bowman said it will carry geologic samples and expose them directly to the sun. Images of the samples will be taken to be used for research back on Earth.

“They’re going to analyze how they age so that we can learn some things about how asteroids and the moon age under the effects of the sun in space,” Bowman said.

The Canadarm will be used to send Iris out into space for the research.

The launch is scheduled for June 1.

- With files from CTV’s Jon Hendricks