Member Spotlight – Deven Thaleshvar

Deven Thaleshvar is a third-year undergraduate student studying mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta. He joined the AlbertaSat team in 2023 and is the Digital Fluxgate Magnetometer (DFGM) deputy lead. Deven is currently working on the boom arm for the DFGM mount, focusing on modernizing the elbow hinge to allow movement while using material designed to avoid magnetization.

When it comes to building a satellite, one thing that Deven emphasized is the sheer amount of complexity, coordination, and subteams within AlbertaSat. Satellites aren’t made in a streamline process, with one step happening right after the other. Many subteams are working on their own projects in parallel to each other, yet somehow must communicate between themselves at the same time. The hardware and software involved all also have different functions, and getting them to coordinate together can be challenging.

With the amount of aerospace experience Deven has gained throughout his time at AlbertaSat, he greatly respects anyone who is involved in such an intimidating industry. Given the opportunity, he would definitely take the chance to meet any important figure in the aerospace industry, such as Scott Kelly, Chris Hadfield, or even the late Neil Armstrong!

While Deven is a busy person at AlbertaSat, his favourite thing to work on and his greatest accomplishment to date is the solving the elbow joint problem for DFGM boom. He completed a DRA (Dean’s Research Award) working on the project for AlbertaSat!

Outside of AlbertaSat, Deven enjoys riffing it out on his guitars, both electric and acoustic. He also used to be a guitarist in a metal band he formed with his friends. A fun fact about Deven is that he likes creating origami creatures like dragons and unicorns in his spare time. Some of these origami creatures take only a week, but one took him an entire month to put together.

To the younger audience looking to jumpstart their career in aerospace, Deven suggests that the best route is to join any aerospace related club, to get an idea of what is to come. Groups like AlbertaSat and STARR are some of the prime examples of a first step into the aerospace industry, but at the end of the day, making meaningful connections with people already in the aerospace industry is way more important than knowing a lot about aerospace. Knowing people gives you an easy gateway into the industry since it will be way easier to get references and knowledge.