Smallsats making a Big Breakthrough: GISS Student joins international team to win first place at the UNISEC Pre5th Mission Idea Contest
Ms. Duann Yi, a graduate student at the Graduate Institute of Space Science (GISS) at NCU, teamed up with fellow students William Evonovsky from the University of Colorado and Kaustubh Anand Kandi from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) to participate in the Pre5th Mission Idea Contest (MIC) established by University Space Engineering Consortium (UNISEC) in Rome, Italy, at the end of 2017. They proposed the idea of a satellite constellation for ionosphere exploration by combining Taiwan’s FORMOSAT-5 with IDEASSat (Ionosphere Dynamics Explorer and Attitude Subsystem Satellite) / INSPIRESat-2 and INSPIRESat-1 of the INSPIRE (International Satellite Program in Research and Education) global collaboration program. The idea won first place of the Pre5th MIC!
“In the field of contemporary space science, smallsats are an innovative breakthrough and are gradually being taken seriously around the globe and in relevant industries,” said Dr. Chang Loren, Associate Professor of the GISS at NCU. Duann Yi’s work exceeded Dr. Chang’s expectations. She visited the United States and collaborated with students from the U.S. and India as part of the INSPIRE consortium. Within two months, their team proposed the project and passed a rigorous design review. During the execution of the project, the most challenging part lies not only in utilizing expertise in space science and engineering, but also in interdisciplinary knowledge and adaption to the communication in different languages. However, with the devotion of time to data collection and unceasing discussion between team members and international scholars and experts, the international team gave a brilliant performance in the end. Such collaborative learning methods and projects will not only have an influence in academic circles, but will also cultivate new talents with practical abilities who can help to expand the capacity of the aerospace industry in Taiwan.
“If you are enthusiastic about stepping into the field of space science and engineering, then devote your time and effort and do your best, and you will definitely achieve your goals,” said Dr. Chang.
