Ottawa-Carleton Educational Space Simulation
Encyclopedia
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board refers to both the institution responsible for the operation of all English public schools in the city of Ottawa, Ontario and its governing body. Like most school boards, the OCDSB is administered by a group of elected trustees and one director selected...
that operates primarily out of Lisgar Collegiate Institute
Lisgar Collegiate Institute
Lisgar Collegiate Institute is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board secondary school in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.Lisgar Collegiate Institute, one of the country's best regarded public schools, is located in downtown Ottawa by the Rideau Canal and is only a few blocks from Canada's Parliament Hill...
. The chief activity of the club is to educate youth about the sciences with relation to space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
.
Mission statement
The Ottawa-Carleton Educational Space Simulation, or Spacesim, is a non-profit organization that promotes a greater understanding of space exploration and research in students of all ages. By conducting a 120-hour mission to a chosen planet, moon, or asteroid each year, Spacesim strives to foster initiative and responsibility in its members, while instilling love and respect for space and science.Mission
The most important activity conducted by Spacesim is its annual 120-hour simulated space mission. This mission is conducted in a simulated spacecraft, or Habitat, designed and built by the organization. The current habitat was built in the 2008/2009 school year, after the Ottawa-Carleton District School BoardOttawa-Carleton District School Board
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board refers to both the institution responsible for the operation of all English public schools in the city of Ottawa, Ontario and its governing body. Like most school boards, the OCDSB is administered by a group of elected trustees and one director selected...
asked the OCESS to move to a different room within the same building. The previous habitat had been built in 2001.
Accompanying the Habitat is an array of custom-made software written by the current Teacher Adviser of the organization, Dr. James Magwood. This software handles everything from environmental conditions to the navigation and piloting of the Habitat. Dr. Magwood's work with the organization earned him Carleton University's 2010 Patrick O'Brien High School Teaching Award .
The most recent mission, in 2011, visited Europa
Europa (moon)
Europa Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and probably has an iron core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System. This surface is striated by cracks and...
, a moon of Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
, an anomalous object and the solar system Gliese 581
Gliese 581
Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star with spectral type M3V, located 20.3 light years away from Earth in the constellation Libra. Its estimated mass is about a third of that of the Sun, and it is the 89th closest known star system to the Sun. Observations suggest that the star has at least six planets:...
. The original flight plan was to fly to the potentially habitable Gliese 581 G
Gliese 581 g
Gliese 581 g , also Gl 581 g or GJ 581 g, is a hypothesized extrasolar planet proven nonexistent by the Geneva Team, orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581, 20.5 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Libra. It is the sixth planet discovered in the Gliese 581 planetary system and the fourth...
but due to unknown radiation levels and low fuel, the mission landed on Gliese 581 F
Gliese 581 f
Gliese 581 f or Gl 581 f is an unconfirmed planet in the Gliese 581 system, located 20 light years from Earth. It is the fifth planet discovered in the system and the sixth known in order from the star. Its discovery was announced September 29, 2010...
. While the simulation generally steers away from speculative science such as a mission destination the existence of which is indeterminate, this year's was chosen to underscore for members the real life proliferation of exoplanets.
Previous missions include the 2010 mission, which visited three moons of Jupiter, the 2009 mission to Iapetus
Iapetus
Iapetus may mean:*Iapetus , a Titan in Greek mythology*Iapetus , one of the planet Saturn's moons*Iapetus Ocean, an ancient ocean between Laurentia and Baltica...
, the 2008 mission to Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, and the 2007 mission to Borrelly.
Habitat
The Habitat, called the Hawking III as the third in a series of OCESS habitats named after eminent physicist Stephen HawkingStephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
, is the simulated living space for astronauts during missions. The current incarnation of the Habitat, composed entirely of drywall with metal supports, is made up of seven modules: the Control Room, Interlock, Longhouse, Hotlab, Washroom, Engineering Closet, and Airlock
Airlock
An airlock is a device which permits the passage of people and objects between a pressure vessel and its surroundings while minimizing the change of pressure in the vessel and loss of air from it...
. The Control Room is the flight deck
Flight deck
The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters and other VTOL aircraft is also referred to as the...
of the Hab; in it are the four computers and some miscellaneous equipment essential to the operation of the mission. The computers run the simulation programs software such as EECOM (Emergency, Environmental & COnsuMables), BIOCOM (BIOlogical COMmunications, which details the health of each astronaut both for Mission Control and for the astronauts), ORBIT (the piloting software), and Engineering, which is used to control the habitat's engineering systems. During the Mission each of these programs is run on a dedicated computer, but BIOCOM shares a computer with mission records and logs. Every room is outfitted with CAPCOM (CAPsule COMmunicator), telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
lines that allows the astronauts to communicate with Mission Control.
Contents of the rooms
The Control Room contains a television with a camera feed to Mission Control, so as to enable two-way visual communication in the event of a telephone and radio failure. Astronauts are encouraged to become familiar with sign language, an endeavour in which they are aided by an instructive chart on the wall of the Control Room. The Interlock is the largest room of the habitat and it connects to every other room. It serves as a kitchen, containing a refrigerator, a microwave, and a full complement of cupboards and cutlery, and also contains a television and camera feed that monitors activity in the airlock and hotlab. The Longhouse is where the astronauts sleep during the mission. It contains 3 wooden bunk beds, providing 1 bed for each of the 6 astronauts. The Hotlab is a laboratory in which tests are conducted on samples collected during the mission, and contains an isolated work area or 'Hotbox' to handle potentially dangerous substances. It also contains the materials necessary to determine the identity of unknown substances, such as pH Indicators, thermometers and solubility charts. The Washroom contains chemical toiletChemical toilet
A chemical toilet is a toilet which uses chemicals to deodorize the waste instead of simply storing it in a hole, or piping it away to a sewage treatment plant. Common types include aircraft lavatory, some passenger train toilets and the portable toilets used on construction sites and at large...
s, and is the only room in the habitat aside from the Engineering Closet that does not contain a video camera. The Engineering Closet houses the vital machines that maintain the vital functions of the habitat, such as the engine, air compression systems, and life support. Finally, the Airlock enables astronauts to enter and exit the habitat without venting the atmosphere inside the other five modules. It contains materials necessary for an Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
, such as flashlights, sample collectors, and EVA suits. In 2011, Samuel Baltz gave a tour of the habitat and its rooms to the Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
.
Education
Aside from the mission, SpaceSim also conducts several programs to educate youth outside the club. The organization offers two programs: a hands-on learning experience, known as the Elementary Education Program (EEP), and a planetariumPlanetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
program. The OCESS is one of two organizations in the Ottawa area to offer planetariums, the other being the Canada Science and Technology Museum
Canada Science and Technology Museum
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is located in Ottawa, Ontario, on St. Laurent Boulevard, to the south of the Queensway .-Mission:...
.
Elementary Education Program
EEPs are offered to every elementary school within the Ottawa-Carleton District school board every year, although only one has been performed in the last four years due to a decline in interest within the organization. These entail transporting one or more classes of students to the OCESS's facilities and providing them with science demonstrations in such fields as Electrostatics, Classical Physics, Rocketry, and special characteristics of the planets of the solar system.The best-loved demonstration of the EEP is the Neptune demonstration, which involves freezing marshmallows in liquid nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen is nitrogen in a liquid state at a very low temperature. It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. Liquid nitrogen is a colourless clear liquid with density of 0.807 g/mL at its boiling point and a dielectric constant of 1.4...
as a treat for the visiting classes.
Complete details regarding the EEP are available on the OCESS Website.
Planetarium Program
The Planetarium Program involves transporting the OCESS's inflatable planetarium to elementaryElementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
or high schools across the Ottawa region and delivering a presentation involving constellations, luminosity, temperature of stars, and a discussion about light pollution. The standard presentation is designed to complement the Grade 9 Ontario Science Curriculum, but the experience is equally suitable for a younger audience.
Complete details regarding the Planetarium Program are available on the OCESS Website.
Leadership
One of the most important facets of the OCESS is the leadership experience it provides for its members. The club is entirely student-run by three commanders: the Mission Commander, the Education Commander, and the Engineering Commander. The Mission Commander is in charge of everything relating to the mission, the Education Commander is in charge of everything relation to Planetariums and EEPs, and the Engineering Commander is in charge of designing any habitat systems, such as door indicators, phone circuitry, or power systems. The Mission is assisted by the Mission Subcommander, who serves as an Executive OfficerExecutive officer
An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...
, and the Education Commander is assisted by the Planetarium Commander. Ranked below the commanders are the Directors. These consist of the Quartermaster, who is in charge of storage, and the Webmaster, who is in charge of the Spacesim Website. The Webmaster assigns members to the Wiki Task Force, which is headed by the Wikimaster, who is also a Director.
Commanders are chosen every June for the following year, as most of the Commanders are usually in Grade 12, and thus graduate at the end of their term in office.
The 2010/2011 Commanders are:
- Mission Commander: Ian Martin
- Education Commander: Samuel Baltz
- Sub-Commander: Olivia Frank
- Deputy Education Commander: Nick Eglin
- External Affairs Subcommander: Euan Wheaton