The MANTIS project, part of the Canadian Space Agency’s CUBICS program, is designed to provide students at Dalhousie University with hands-on science and technology experience on a real space mission. This project will help develop interest in Canada’s space workforce by giving students the experience, knowledge, and skills to become sought-after candidates for positions in Canada’s space sector. To this end, the primary objective of the MANTIS project is to launch a satellite into low Earth orbit to perform climate research. MANTIS is being designed to monitor natural phenomenon that are heavily impacted by climate change. The MANTIS project will monitor harmful algal blooms (a biological phenomenon which can release toxins into rivers, lakes, and oceans).   

Telemetry Beacon 

MANTIS will boast a generic digital beacon broadcasting telemetry information from the satellite at predefined time intervals. These beacon messages will be AX.25 packets. Any interested amateur radio operators will be welcome to listen to this information. All required information to properly decode the beacon messages will be available on here on the MANTIS website, once the satellite is nearing launch. 

Tutorial & Technical Support 

MANTIS pledges to create a program for young enthusiasts to participate in the MANTIS experiment. This will be done with three tools: 

Firstly, documentation and tracking telemetry on the future MANTIS website we will have live tracking to show the satellites current position in addition to this we will have instructions on how to track the satellite via IOS or Samsung applications. This will be in addition to communication protocols and communication schedules. 

Secondly, MANTIS will develop a low–cost mobile ground station design & schematic that is able to communicate with MANTIS and other CUBICS projects. The development of this ground station will parallel the development on the MANTIS station. We will further utilize the expertise of the Sydney Amateur Radio Club and other contacts withing the amateur radio world. The goal of this will be for enthusiasts to be able to utilize this schematic to develop a mobile ground station to join in the MANTIS experiment and drive interest in amateur radio. 

Lastly to aid in the usage of the aforementioned tools, DSS has committed to create online video tutorials dedicated to helping young enthusiasts and engineers along through processes of amateur radio, team management, conceptual understanding of various space science topics, and general engineering practices. 

With these tools, we hope to spread awareness and curiosity in the CUBICS mission and to push younger enthusiast to become a part of the amateur radio community