Wendle
Who we are
We are a team of 5 students from HSDC Alton College who are participating in the UK CanSat competition to design, create and test a satellite within the dimensions of a soft drinks can. The satellite will contain a parachute, sensors and a communication system in order to carry out its mission of recording data on the environment. We will be launching the satellite at COTEC on Salisbury Plane alongside other teams in the UK in April 2025. cotec.org.uk
What is the CanSat competition?
The UK CanSat competition is an annual competition which provides students with an opportunity to work on a small-scale space project. The competition requires that we:
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Assign team roles and project managing
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Fit all the major subsystems found in a satellite, including power, sensors and communications, into the volume of a soft drink can.
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Design a parachute to ensure that our CanSat survives landing after launch.
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Design and carry out scientific experiments to transmit in-flight data from the CanSat to an Earth-based computer.
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Write detailed, scientific reports on our progress throughout the competition.
At the end of the competition in April, we will launch our satellite and our entire project will be marked by judges. The winning UK team will be invited to a European learning and celebration event organised by ESA. https://www.stem.org.uk/esero/secondary/competitions-and-challenges/cansat
The design of our CanSat
Our satellite is designed to measure air temperature and pressure as part of the primary mission. For the secondary mission, we chose for our satellite to measure GPS location. All of this data is transmitted and picked up by the yagi antenna and received back at the ground station.
The CanSat runs on micro python which is directly suppoted by raspberry pi pico. The main sensor (BMP280) uses a I2C communication interface and the RFM9x radio uses a SPI interface working based on a clock cycle. The satellite also uses an adafruit Ultimate GPS and the power is supplied by a 9V battery. All of our components are connected securely on two permanent breadboards inside the can.
The can part of the satellite consists of 3mm thick walls of PLA plastic at 100% infill. Our parachute is hemispherical and made of material from a sail.