The Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) is the country’s largest annual youth science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) event, bringing together top young scientists and their projects, selected by our national network of over 100 regional STEM fairs in every province and territory. The weeklong event has 500 finalists in grades 7-12 competing for medals, cash prizes, scholarships and exclusive opportunities.

in 2021, Silas competed at the CWSF and he was awarded the Excellence in Astronomy Award (the prize is a telescope) and a Gold Medal! – Here at DSS we are so proud of him.

Silas’ project “Revolution Evolution” describes the design evolution of a CubeSat reaction wheel.

“For last year’s science fair project, SMARTEN, I created a simulated microgravity and reduced friction testbed for CubeSats. I got interested in reaction wheels because I needed to build one to test SMARTEN. That project led to me being invited to join DSSL’s LORIS program and that work was the motivation for my science fair project this year.”

 “My main goal is to provide a versatile alternative to commercial reaction wheels so that organizations with limited budgets can expand the types and number of missions they can pursue.”

What are the current outcomes?

I qualified for the Youth Science Canada Nova Scotia Regional competition after winning his school’s science fair. The regional competition was held this past week and I was selected as one of the 6 students to represent Nova Scotia at the National event to be held May 17-21.

(You can learn all about it here)

What are your next steps?

I received some useful feedback from the judges and will be incorporating a few small changes to his project. (A bit more testing!) I am excited to be part of team Nova Scotia, and am hoping to make the LORIS team proud too.