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.
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!
The Mechanical team is responsible for designing, building, and testing all the structural aspects of the satellite (save for the payload housing - that is the task of Opto-Mechanical). Mechanical has to ensure that the satellite can survive the significant loads and vibrations encountered during launch, while remaining within the mass and volume constraints for a 3U cubesat.
For the past several years, UTAT Space Systems has been working on FINCH (Field Imaging Nanosatellite for Crop Residue Hyperspectral Mapping). FINCH was a 3U+ cubesat with a hyperspectral imaging payload (the FINCH Eye) that was meant to conduct crop residue mapping over Manitoba. Read the FINCH Mission Handbook for more detailed information about all aspects of the mission. The team is now wrapping up FINCH and starting a new mission GOOSE (?) - CUBICS 2026 towards an application for the CUBICS 2026 grant from the Canadian Space Agency.
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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 a 3U 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 Fall 2025)
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Useful acronyms and terms for components and subsystems in the satellite
The onboarding challenge for the Spring/Summer 2026 semester will be composed of two segments:
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 Mechanical project based on your interests.