11.  Potential Benefits

Ozone layer research is important to all humans and especially
Canadians. The people, vegetation and extensive land masses of the
Canadian North will be most adversely affected by any changes in the
ozone layer over the North pole. The Niteowl project provides a low cost
opportunity for measuring ozone densities in Northern Canada with
Canadian expertise and equipment.

The most important spin-off of Niteowl will be the development of a
micro-satellite based instrument which will be used to measure local and
global ozone distributions in near real-time; such a capability is
essential if ozone depletion continues. With this capability,
individuals will have the opportunity to ``see'' the ozone layer on
television and at an internet web site or obtain daily reports via
newspapers and radio. Because of the health risks associated with ozone
layer depletion, such rapid dissemination of information is important.
Providing this information should be a high priority for public financed
research.

The Niteowl project and launch will also enhance the efforts made by
Akjuit (sp?) Aerospace towards re-establishing and expanding SpacePort
Canada (Churchill, MB) as an important national and international launch
site.

Canadian industry will benefit. Sci-Tec will have the opportunity to
make use of scientific research without delay. This leads to a win-win
situation for both research and industry: 1) The scientists have their
scientific research transformed immediately into applied technology (and
public wealth). 2) Industry realizes it is worthwhile to participate in
research projects with univerities and government organizations (CSA).

Graduate education in space science will benefit. This experiment
involves graduate students at every stage and gives them first hand
experience in space science research. The graduate school experience and
post-graduation employment opportunities of the participating students
is expected to be enhanced. This can only benefit the field of space
science research. In particular, students will have the opportunity to
work as term employees with Sci-Tec during the phase A study and thus
obtain first hand experience working in Canadian industry. 

Communication of the potential benefits of this project has already
begun. In a recent front page article of ``On Campus News'' (a
newsletter of the U of S public relations office) the nature of the
Niteowl proposal and the activities of the science team were described
and the unique aspect of having graduate students help in the proposal
preparation was highlighted. An internet website is being developed
which will provide up-to-date progress reports on the project and in the
end will be used to distribute launch date photographs and final
results. Presentations will be made at conferences and the work will be
published in scholarly journals. The history of the NiteOwl project will
be incorporated into a computer based education initiative at the
University of Saskatchewan. As part of the College of Engineering's
Innovative Teaching and Learning Center, a PowerPoint based set of
materials (including internet web pages) will document the development
procedures used for the NiteOwl science and intrumentation. This will
allow the formal system design process followed by the NiteOwl team to
be presented to a fourth year electrical engineering design class as an
example of real-world engineering design. Finally, the high level effort
to educate the general public on the project will continue. For this
purpose the science team will take advantage of existing programs such
as the Western Space Education Network and the Canadian Space Resource
Centre, Innovators in the Schools, U of S Engineering Summer Sci-Fi Camp
and Spectrum, and the U of S University to the People program. Several
members of the science team have participated in these programs in the
past (see their personal data forms for details). In addition, during
Phase A we plan to explore with the U of S extension and Audio Visual
departments the possibility of developing a video chronicling the
experiences of the graduate students in the project and the final
outcome of the Niteowl project. With the success of the project, we will
contact radio and television networks to make public the results and
expected benefits.