Memorial University of Newfoundland

Published purpose

Killick-2 is a project proposed by Memorial University (MUN) for the Canadian Space Agency CUBICS initiative. The MUN team proposes a 3U CubeSat called Killick-2 containing a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) Reflectometry payload to measure ocean parameters from space. The applications proposed for Killick-2 are sea ice detection and concentration estimation and ocean dynamic parameters (wind and wave). The Killick-2 supervisory team will select a mission development team from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, and will consist of lead researchers in postgraduate studies and an engineering team consisting of undergraduate electrical and mechanical engineering students. The postgraduate team will lead the GNSS-R payload development, while the undergraduate team will lead the satellite bus development. The undergraduate design team will be composed primarily junior and senior students. The Killick-2 project has significant benefits to Canada in the context of development of highly qualified personnel (HQPs) in space systems and earth observation. Furthermore, Killick-2 will gather a significant GNSS-R dataset that will be useful for the understanding the impacts of climate change.