CanSat Regional Launches Take Off in Essex!

March 13th 2024

Three of our CanSat teams went to Stow Maries Aerodrome, Essex, last week for a preliminary test launch of their can sized satellites.

With poor weather and wind conditions, the teams were not sure if their cans would be able to leave the ground, but Team Kepler, Cosmic Girls and FloraSat were in high spirits as they left Alleyn’s in the afternoon with Mr. Ford, Director of Science, to give test launch a good go.

CanSat is a national competition run by the European Space Agency, in which teams design and launch a mini model satellite that fits into the dimensions of a standard soda can. Year 12 students have been designing their Cans, creating devices that will survive the accelerations of a rocket launching them to 1000ft, before collecting data from a set of sensors, transmitting this to ground, where it is received by the students with their self-made ariel. To finish, the Can must also survive the fall back to Earth with a parachute.

Teams have been 3D printing cases, soldering together a menagerie of sensors, and writing a huge amount of code for use within the Can and the receiving aerial.

Cosmic Girls, whose secondary mission (beyond data collection) is to make their can into a disaster detection module that can help predict a range of natural disasters, found the conditions of the test launch challenging, but helpful, stating;

‘The test launch was an extremely helpful experience to all the teams there - issues arose that had to be fixed on the go. There was lots of last-minute re-enforcing of the Can due to the high winds.

‘Team Cosmic Girls encountered some technical errors but at the end of the day left with a complete can and a new game plan.

‘Overall, it was a hectic day, but that made it even more enjoyable.’

The preliminary launches, which send their Cans 300m into the air, allow teams to test the viability and integrity of their current cans. The idea being that they gain insights that will help them with the refinement of their Cans if required, in preparation for the official Can launch later in the year.

Mr. Ford was happy with the efforts of the teams, stating;

‘The students have been working astoundingly well as teams, distributing workload and holding each other to account.’.

Despite the challenges of the test launch, the insights for each team were invaluable, and created an opportunity for students to think on their feet.

FloraSat were thrilled with the value of the exercise, relaying;

‘Our CanSat launch went great and was a very valuable trip to help our project progress.

‘After some last minute Can alterations to suit the challenging weather conditions, we launched successfully, and our Can made it down in one piece. We weren’t able to collect any data due to the bad weather, but the launch did allow us to test the mechanisms of our Can and parachute so far, so we can improve them for our next launch.’

Such interesting work from our CanSat teams. Follow along with their journeys via Instagram.