SAIT students designing drone to collect space junk [Video]

A team of students from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) is working on an out-of-this-world project, to try and cut down on the amount of debris in space.

The SAIT Supernovas is made up of five students who are passionate about space engineering.

The team is made up of Ethan Good (electronics engineering technology), Isaac Richardson (mechanical engineering technology), Samuel Relja (Supernovas founder and mechanical engineering technology), Leif Teigen (mechanical engineering technology), and Kylan Mazak (electronics engineering technology).

The team was formed with one goal: to create an unmanned, electrically powered craft or drone, that can function in a microgravity environment with just nine months to design, develop and build it along with the ionic thrust system to provide propulsion and control of the vehicle.

“The drone itself, it contains eight channels of high voltage which power thrusters,” said Ethan Good, an 18-year-old second-year student.

“Which in layman’s …