Canadian Reduced Gravity Experiment Challenge Underway

The sixth Canadian Reduced Gravity Experiment Design Challenge (CAN-RGX) gets underway today with four universities competing this year.

The CAN-RGX competition is organized by the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Canada (SEDS Canada) in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency and the National Research Council.

The CAN-RGX has been running since 2016 though the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the 4th iteration of the challenge by a year. It brings together post-secondary students that “design and test a small scientific experiment on board the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Falcon 20.” SEDS Canada states that the CSA helped modify the Falcon 20 for reduced gravity flights.

This years experiments include space health and orbital debris capture.

The teams participating this year are.

• CRISiS – Concordia University: Team CRISiS (Cardiovascular Resuscitation Identification Simulator in Space) from Concordia University aims to engineer a new class of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) manikins as a testing platform to provide real-time feedback of volumetric flow rate within a cardiovascular fluidic system. This project is a stepping-stone in establishing a “gold standard” CPR for human spaceflight.

• Graviteam – University of Calgary: Graviteam from the University of Calgary aims to investigate and further understand passive phase separation and open capillary channels in zero-gravity environments. By developing more complex channel geometries, the team hopes to achieve more efficient separations in space.

• UBC Rocket – University of British Columbia: Team UBC Rocket from the University of British Columbia aims to investigate the effectiveness of tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) in breaking down blood clots in microgravity. This project will contribute to better understanding of pharmacological interventions that can be implemented in case of thrombosis events in space.

• SpiderSat – University of Alberta: Team SpiderSAT from University of Alberta will test the ability of a Kraton G1645 gecko adhesive net to capture debris-like material, similar to space debris. This project will contribute to developing a cost-effective dry adhesive net to capture space debris in Earth’s orbit.

The NRC Falcon 20 flights are staged out of Ottawa.