The Engineer Behind the Despin System at Concordia University
Space Concordia
While Concordia University’s strengths are notably in the arts and engineering, its true merit lies within its students and alumni; it is due to the monumental efforts and determination of Concordian graduates that Space Concordia was founded.
As an alum-led organization, Space Concordia comprises over 250 undergraduate and graduate students across five departments of expertise, all united by a shared goal: to inspire, educate, and innovate in the pursuit of reaching the stars. Amongst its branches is the Rocketry Division, which housed a TAV alumnus who contributed to the launch of the “largest student-built rocket in the world: Starsailor.” -Space Concordia
Rafael Kalmanson
Rafael first attended TAV College in the Springboard to DEC in 2016, graduating from Pure and Applied Sciences in 2019. He then pursued a Bachelor of Engineering at McGill University before obtaining his master’s in mechanical engineering at Concordia University in 2025. He was not only a member of McGill’s Rocket Team and Baja Racing Team, but also spent nearly two years at Space Concordia working on one of Concordia’s most pivotal projects, Starsailor, where he had the opportunity to fine-tune his talent for propulsion and thermal engineering and design.
Ad astra Starsailor and Rafael’s cold gas control system
The most recent feat of Space Concordia was the launch of Starsailor, a single-stage sub-orbital rocket, on August 15, 2025. The rocket measured in at approximately 42 feet and 1750 pounds, which is as tall as a brachiosaurus, yet as heavy as a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.
Its size isn’t the only thing that is record-breaking; its engine, the Stewart engine, generates 35,000 newtons of force, securing it as the most powerful student-engineered engine to date. The rocket’s ambition was to break through Earth’s atmosphere, enter the realm of space, and descend along a calculated path.
A crucial component of successful spacecraft flights is precise control of axial rotation and translational motion, which is modulated by the rocket’s Reaction Control System (RCS).
Rafael’s primary contribution to the project was designing Starsailor’s RCS thrusters to control the rocket’s trajectory; These thrusters expel short bursts of gas, generating forces to reorient and guide the rocket throughout its course. While most RCSs expel hot gas or use chemical combustion, Rafael utilized cold gas as his system’s propellant; it relies solely on the release of highly pressurized gas, eliminating the risk of fuel ignition as well as the need for intensive thermoregulation.
As the thrusters are quite small, being able to fit in the palm of a hand, the rocket was decorated with 8 of them, each propelling a force of 100 newtons!
Ground Control
Later on, Rafael shifted his attention to leading the development of the video-capturing hardware and ground operations. This entailed configuring stable and secure camera housing on the rocket as well as on the ground, ensuring that all cameras were well integrated and protected from harsh disturbances to provide quality recordings of the launch at various angles to be featured on both live broadcasts and on a CBC News report. Furthermore, he aided in the mechanical assembly of Starsailor pre-launch, solidified real-time countdown procedures, and assisted in the final flight analysis and diagnostics of the rocket.
Wise words
“Success isn’t born from talent or convenience; it is forged through relentless effort and the courage to ask questions when you don’t have the answers.
High-stakes achievements don’t happen because you feel like working on a given day, they happen because you push through years of friction, failure, and iteration without backing down. True accomplishment requires a relentless work ethic, an unyielding willingness to learn, and the grit to keep grinding long after the initial excitement wears off until the mission is complete.” -Rafael Kalmanson
