We had a great time at Ascension 2019, and we hope you did too!
We want to give a huge shoutout to our sponsors:
Ascension, our annual space conference, brings together students, researchers, and industry professionals over a 3-day event. The conference attempts to close the gap between industry and students by creating a place for students to find their own place in Canada’s space industry. Ascension has been held annually since 2015, with the most recent event held at the University of Toronto. In an effort to extend our reach west, Ascension 2019 will be held at the University of Alberta on March 1 – 3, 2019, in partnership with AlbertaSat (ISSET-S) and the Undergraduate Astronomy Society. Ascension 2019 is open to the public.
Sustainability on Earth and in Space
The theme of Ascension 2019 is Sustainability on Earth and in Space and will focus on how we can use technology developed for space or space research to help us be more sustainable on Earth. A major part of this focus also includes sustainability in space itself.
Schedule
Over the course of the conference, there will be social events, panel discussions, presentations (including a keynote from Dr. Bob Thirsk), and a student space teams expo.
Highlighted speakers include (click for bio):
Former CSA Astronaut
President & CEO
Association of Spaceflight Professionals
Chief Scientist, Life Sciences and ISS Utilization
Canadian Space Agency
Citizen-Scientist Astronaut Candidate and Physician-Surgeon
STEM Educator
Senior Mission Scientist, Planetary Exploration
Canadian Space Agency
STEM Educator
| Friday - March 1, 2019 | ||
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| Doors open/Registration at TELUS World of Science-Edmonton 18:30-19:00 |
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| Welcome & Keynote Dr. Tim Haltigin 19:00 - 20:00 “Trout, Space Rocks, Cookies, and Lasers: how to bring a sample back from the beginning of the Solar System” |
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| Laser Show in the Zeidler Dome 20:00 - 20:45 |
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| Reception on skywalk and S.P.A.C.E. place Sponsored by the City of Edmonton 20:45+ |
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| Reception concludes 22:30 |
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| Saturday - March 2, 2019 | ||
| Registration / Light Breakfast 8:00 - 9:00
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| Opening Keynote Michael Gallagher 9:00 - 10:00
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| Panel #1: Canada's Place in Space Moderator: Ryan Anderson Gordon Osinksi, Ian Mann, Elliot Saive 10:00 - 10:50
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Coffee break & snacks
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| Session #1: Education & Outreach Gordon Osinski (Western U) Cate Collins (Telus World of Science - Edmonton) 11:05 - 11:55  
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| Catered Lunch and Student Group Expo 11:55 - 13:00
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| Session #2: Biomedical Technology & Human Physiology Nicole Buckley (CSA) Adetola Adesida (U Alberta) 13:00 - 13:50  
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| Student Presentations 13:50 - 14:20
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Coffee break & snacks
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Panel #2: Women in Space Moderator: MLA Heather Sweet Nicole Buckley, Amanda Green, Callie Lissinna 14:35 - 15:25 
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| Student Presentations 15:25 - 15:55
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| Session #3: Extreme Environments Ross Lockwood (U Alberta) Ian Mann (U Alberta) 15:55 - 16:45  
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| Networking sponsored by Wyvern 17:00 - 18:00
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| Gala Dinner with keynote talk by Dr. Bob Thirsk 18:00 - 20:00
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| Sunday - March 3, 2019 |
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| Light Breakfast 8:00-9:00
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| Opening Keynote Shawna Pandya 9:00-10:00
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| YSpacE Competition: Final Pitches 10:00 - 11:15 Participants: Adam Paul (Apastron), Kevin Stadnyk & Kirk Hovell (Space Debris Removal), and Amine Doulfikar & Ian Cabales (Space Science Applied Education) Judges: Christopher Robson (Wyvern), Clinton Selkow (Influencive), Will Zaichkowski First place prize sponosored by Finaeo
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| YSpacE Deliberation Coffee break & snacks
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| Session #4: Remote Sensing Warren Shaw (GHGSat) Ryan Anderson (SatCan) 11:30 - 12:20  
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| Catered Lunch and Industry Expo 12:20 - 13:10
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| Session #5: Student Competitions Larry Reeves (CSDC) 13:10 - 13:35 
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| Panel #3: Student Competitions Moderator: Rahul Ravin Roxy Fournier, Abby Lacson, Larry Reeves 13:35 - 14:30
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| Session #6: Planetary Science & Exploration Chris Herd (U Alberta) Carlos Lange (U Alberta) 14:30 - 15:20  
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| Student Presentations 15:20 - 15:50
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| Closing Keynote Amanda Green & Julie Arsenault 16:00 - 17:00  
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| Closing Remarks 17:00 - 17:15
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Tickets
Special Functions
Friday Night @ Telus World of Science - Edmonton
Join us on March 1st at the newly renovated Telus World of Science – Edmonton, where you can tour the brand new S.P.A.C.E gallery, enjoy a laser light show in the Zeidler Dome (the most advanced projection dome system in the world!) and hear from the first keynote speaker of the conference, Dr. Tim Haltigin, a Project Scientist from the Canadian Space Agency. Most recently, Tim has been involved with the science team on a mission that you may have heard of: OSIRIS-REx! OSIRIS-REx is a mission to a near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The Canadian contribution to the mission is the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (or OLA) which used laser pulses to measure the topography of the asteroid. In this talk you will hear about how OLA works and what we’ve learned about Bennu so far.
A laser show and a talk about a laser instrument 94,426,440 kilometres away! What a treat.
These activities will be followed by networking sponsored by the City of Edmonton, light refreshments, and a cash bar on the SkyWalk.
This event is open to the public. If you want to purchase tickets to this event you can do so above by selecting the “Friday Night @ Telus World of Science – Edmonton (ONLY)” ticket. This event is included in the price of a regular conference ticket.
Gala Dinner w/ former CSA astronaut Dr. Bob Thirsk
Join us at Dinwoodie Lounge (University of Alberta) on March 2nd for a 3-course meal with Dr. Bob Thirsk. Did you know he holds the Canadian records for the longest space flight (187 days 20 hours) and the most time spent in space (204 days 18 hours).
Doors open at 5 pm for networking sponsored by Wyvern, and seating for dinner starts at 6. Dinner starts at 6:30 pm, and Dr. Thirsk will start his talk at 7 pm.
This event is open to the public. If you want to purchase tickets to this event you can do so above by selecting the “Gala Dinner w/ Dr. Bob Thirsk (ONLY)” ticket. This event is included in the price of a regular conference ticket.
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
YSpacE First Prize Sponsor:
Finaeo's mission is to inspire advisors across the globe to be bionic.
Media Sponsor:
SpaceQ is an independent news service reporting on the Canadian and international space sectors.
Venue Sponsor:
Networking Sponsor:
Brought to you in partnership with:
The Undergraduate Astronomy Society
AlbertaSat (ISSET-S)
Getting There
From Central Station:
Take the Capital Line towards Century Park for 4 stops until you reach University Station. Walk northwest for ~1km and you will reach the Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering.
From Edmonton International Airport:
Take the 747 bus towards Century Park for 3 stops until you reach Century Park Transit Centre. Walk 4 minutes towards Century Park LRT Station and take the Capital Line towards Clareview for 5 stops. Once you reach University Station, walk northwest for ~1km to the Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering.
Edmonton International Airport Skyshuttle: visit the Skyshuttle website to find out drop-off times and locations. The shuttle services most major business areas of Edmonton.
Parking:
Windsor Carpark Weekend/Stat Holiday Daily Max: $5.50. Plug-ins for electric vehicles are available.
Check out our 2019 student presenter's abstracts:
Lalit Bharadwaj, University of Calgary, “Astroplastic: colon to colony”
Erik Halliwell, University of Alberta, “Low-Cost, Open-Source Customizable CubeSat Solar Panels”
Mario Ivanov, University of Alberta, “The X-ray Emissivity of Low-Density Stellar Populations”
Aimee Roy, University of Alberta, “The Importance of Using Cube Satellites for Educational Outreach”
Anna Deshpande & Ivan Savy, University of Calgary, “Composite Overwrap Pressure Vessel”
Matthew Miersma, University of Alberta, “Small Atmospheric Mars Payload Landed Experiment (SAMPLE) Concept and Computational Fluid Dynamics Study”
Tatiana Kopchuk, McEwan University, “Defining the Transit Method Observation Limits of the Athabasca University Robotic Telescope”
Alina Kunitskaya, University of Calgary, “Oxygen Production on Mars with In-Situ Resource Utilization”
Rahul Ravin, University of Alberta, “Stratospheric Sampler Design, Development and Flight: Lessons Learned”
Bhavesh Kakwani & Luis Lopera, McMaster University, “NEUDOSE: A CubeSat to characterize space radiation”
Alexis D.P. Pascual, University of Western Ontario, “Autonomous and Real Time Rock Image Classification Using Convolutional Neural Networks”
Kyle Hennig & Ryan Shukla, University of Alberta, “Using Open Source Software on a Student-Designed Rover“
Angela Wang (could not present), University of Alberta, “Design of Cube Satellite Turnstile Antenna with Phasing Network PCB”
Mohammed Abu Saleh (could not present) Rajshai University of Engineering and Technology, “Monitoring Soil and Vegetation Moisture using Normalized Multi-band Drought Index (NMDI) Dervied From Landsat-8 Imagery and QGIS Over the Barind Tract of Bangladesh”
Mohammed Abu Saleh (could not present), Rajshai University of Engineering and Technology, “Assessment Of The Variation Between Land Surface Temperature And The Atmospheric Temperature Using Landsat 8 Imagery On The North Western Region Of Bangladesh From 2013 To 2018”
Photos from Past Conferences
Ascension 2019
Ascension 2017
Ascension 2016
Ascension 2015
Associate Professor
