The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) has a long tradition of working with Canadian athletes to help them achieve their best in international competitive sports, including the Winter and Summer Olympics, and the Paralympics. For 50 years, NRC researchers have worked with athletes from many sports to help them test their equipment and optimize their aerodynamic positions so they are more efficient in their technique, thus making them go faster.
The NRC has developed a one-of-a-kind, in-situ rotating ice adhesion rig, where researchers are able to measure the adhesion properties of ice to various icephobic coatings in controlled and repeatable conditions. Innovators creating these ice-resistant veneers see their potential application on drones as a match made in heaven, as UAVs’ limited onboard power and payload means a passive ice-prevention method is preferable.
Youth from across Canada got a helping hand to explore their aerospace research skills as they took flight over Ottawa airspace in July 2017 in the first Canadian microgravity research competition for students.