The Manitoba Space Academy is a branding of the six programs, or pillars, of what was originally the Win-Cube Project for Manitoba students to design, build, test, launch and track a very small satellite, called a pico-satellite. Pico-satellites must weigh less than one kilogram and must be the size of a 10 cm cube to fit into the launch mechanism.
As one of the first programs to involve high school students, Win-Cube has moved forward in “fits and starts,” as the organizing committee works out the intricacies of involving high school students in “rocket science.”
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 The Win-Cube Project was the inspiration for the Manitoba Space Academy. Win-Cube relates directly to the final activity of the program which is the launch of a satellite with the other programs serving as the building blocks. This program grew out of the successful Cube Sat projects start at Cal State Poly. In Canada, this program has been vigorously pursed by the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Toronto. Win-Cube was the first project to include high schools.
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 The Manitoba Space Adventure is a one week space camp to prepare high school students for further participation in the Win-Cube program. Students need to upgrade the high school physics to be able to understand the vocabulary and concepts that are part of Win-Cube. Space camps occur at the beginning of summer usually held at the School of Aerospace Studies, 17 Wing, Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg.
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 Short wave radio links pico-satellites to the ground stations that gather information from them. Acquiring an amateur radio license gives participants the ability to operate the equipment that monitors all the satellites using the bandwidth set aside for cube satellites. Win-Cube, in partnership with the Winnipeg Amateur Radio Club, offers preparation courses for the qualifying examinations for the license.
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  Students design and build the balloon apparatus as well as design the experiments that the payload will do. The high altitude balloons may reach a height of over 30 000 metres, the edge of space. The students learn a wide variety of hands-on skills such as soldering and more advanced skills such as programming bread boards. The balloons are launched and tracked by the use of amateur radio equipment. At this level, the other onboard equipment are usually a camera and a GPS device so that the balloon can be tracked.
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