Altium Customer Success
From Campus to Cosmos: Students Take the Lead in Advancing the Australian Space Program
“Altium 365 is amazing. It helps us keep track of all the changes and allows us to collaborate in a way that feels very intuitive. You can comment on your work and it's all in the cloud so it's accessible to everyone."
Discover how the Melbourne Space Program leveraged Altium Designer and Altium 365 to help their students gain real-world skills on an ambitious mission to build the first student-led Earth imaging satellite.
As universities around the globe strive to prepare their students for real-world challenges, Melbourne Space Program in Australia stands out as a trailblazing institution. Through the ACRUX-2 project, students are not merely equipped with theoretical knowledge, but armed with the practical skills necessary to build an Earth-imaging satellite.
Acknowledging the transformative power of practical experience in the education landscape, Altium, as an industry leader, places significant value on bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world skills. Altium Education provides students with free licenses for Altium Designer and Altium 365, giving them access to the latest industry-standard tools and setting them on the path to career success.
Empowering Next-Gen Aerospace Engineers with Altium
“it’s a huge opportunity for us to work on engaging and ambitious real-world pioneering projects.”
The integration of Altium Designer and Altium 365 helped ACRUX-2 teams streamline and accelerate their processes in their own ways.
Manufacturer parts databases have been invaluable in teaching the students to select and incorporate readily available market components. According to Perera, “In Altium, we have manufacturer part search, we can insert parts with the footprint with one click.”
And with Altium 365, gone are the days of passing around thumb drives to share design files. Instead, they have seamless, real-time communication and collaboration capabilities to ensure all team members can work together from wherever they are. Perera adds, “we have a single shared workspace for various subsystems that allows us to access all of the PCB designs and schematics with ability to apply filters and access comprehensive functionality directly through the web interface.”
What’s more, Altium 365 meticulously tracks each design iteration, streamlining the review process and nurturing essential skills such as version control that are vital in the engineering domain. By sharing projects, enhancing group work efficiency, and fostering knowledge exchange, Altium 365 and Altium Designer created a dynamic and innovative learning environment that allowed ACRUX-2 teams to collaborate more efficiently.
In short, Altium 365 and Altium Designer not only revolutionized Melbourne Space Program's approach to design and project management but also significantly enriched the students’ educational experience.
Connecting Knowledge with Real-World Application
“Education programs like the one that Altium offers are fundamentally important to what we’re trying to accomplish. If we're gonna be using industry-grade software, which we want to do, we need to know how to use it.The Melbourne Space Program fundamentally exists to allow students and members to learn and the best success comes from when you get people talking to each other.”
With Altium Education, the classroom experience transcends traditional textbooks and lectures, offering students a dynamic pathway into the world of electronic design and engineering. And with the integration of Altium Designer and Altium 365 into their curriculum, students can take an active role in navigating the complexities they will inevitably face in the future.
Beyond Limits, Into Eternity
“It’s essentially the opportunity to do work we wouldn't get to do for at least a few years into our careers.”
The Melbourne Space Program's experience with Altium vividly illustrates how technology can reshape the educational landscape. By adopting industry-standard tools and practices, universities can bridge the gap between theory and practice, preparing their students to tackle real-world challenges head-on.
Having access to Altium Designer and Altium 365 not only gives Melbourne Space Program students the skills they need to be the next generation of innovators, engineers, and leaders, it also provides them with a significant advantage when they enter the workforce. Armed with these industry-standard tools, students are uniquely prepared to meet the demands of their future careers, positioning the program as a pioneering institution steadfast in its commitment to excellence in education and equipping students for real-world success.
