This document contains the information for the onboarding challenge for new members. By the end of the design challenge, we hope you will gain experience with CAD and Solidworks, put mechanical design into practice, and have a good time! Before you start, you have to download or gain access to SolidWorks 2024, so please use the instructions on the SOLIDWORKS page and feel free to send a message on Slack if you need help. Also make sure that you have been added to the Fusion Team, where we share CAD files, by sending your U of T email to the Mechanical Lead.
CB-09: CAD Guidelines contains guidelines for mechanical design and CAD modelling, and the SOLIDWORKS page contains helpful resources to learn how to use SolidWorks. Feel free to drop by during work sessions if you have any questions or want help with learning how to CAD!
FINCH (Field Imaging Nanosatellite for Crop Residue Hyperspectral Mapping) is the mission that the Space Systems team is currently working on. FINCH is a 3U cubesat with a hyperspectral imaging payload that will conduct crop residue mapping over Manitoba. Read the FINCH Mission Handbook for more detailed information about all aspects of the mission. The Mechanical team is responsible for designing, building, and testing all the structural aspects of the satellite (save for the payload structures - that is the task of Opto-Mechanical).
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A 3U cubesat is composed of 3 “U”s, or units, where each unit is 10 x 10 x 10 cm.
However, the actual length of FINCH measures at 10 x 10 x 34.05 cm in accordance with a standard for cubesats called the “Cubesat Design Specification”.
FINCH also contains an extra “tuna can” (yes, that is a technical term!) above its 3U body.
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The following figures show the insides of the FINCH satellite! (Current as of August 2025)
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Useful acronyms and terms for components and subsystems in the satellite
The onboarding challenge for the Fall 2025 semester will be composed of two segments:
If you’ve seen the onboarding challenges from past semesters (perhaps by exploring the Notion 👀) you might notice that this semester’s challenge is longer, with several different parts! This is to help new members become more familiar with not just designing a part in SolidWorks, but also considering assembly and getting a chance to prototype your designs. Please feel free to share any feedback throughout the project :)
After you’ve become more comfortable with CAD and the design process by completing the first task in SolidWorks, you can be assigned to a FINCH project based on your interests. The second task of prototyping will happen later on in the semester (once the Electrical team has their boards manufactured).