Introduction

Welcome to the CanSat 2012 Team Aspire Blog!

*The Team*
Team Leader
Will Kaufhold (Systems Engineering and Outreach)
Hardware and Material
Alex Foster (Metals and Aerodynamic Engineering)
Neil Pabari (Plastics and Sponsorship)
Raj Dua (Information & Systems Engineering and Blog)
Programming and Electronics
Erik Sullivan (Electronic Engineering)
Stuart Ashforth (Programming)
William Martin (Electronics and Programming)
Data Analysis
Sahl Khan (Post flight analysis and mathematical modelling)
Facilitators
James Coxon (Link between mathematical modelling and programming)
Phil Dinenis (General Physics)

We recently submitted our Proposal (Cheers Will!) and after waiting... and waiting, we found that we were chosen to be the English team. The fact that “Scotland” is holding its own national competition, the winner of which will represent Scotland, makes it all the more remarkable that the “UK” has been allocated an additional place (i.e. us) – albeit as “official reserve”. But all is not lost, as we are still permitted to build the CanSat for a possible Launch if one of the other teams drop out. We will push ourselves further than expected to succeed. If we build a truly brilliant CanSat (which we will), then there is a very good chance that it will be launched at the Andøya Rocket Range, Norway.

The European CanSat competition is part of ESA’s initiative to inspire young people to follow a career in science or engineering, with a view to ensuring the availability of a highly qualified work force in the space industry of the future.

The basic format of the CanSat competition is to create a satellite that can fit into a standard 'Soda' Can (115 mm height and 66 mm diameter). The idea is that these CanSats are loaded into a miniature rocket and launched to an altitude of around 1km. The CanSats will then come down (somehow) whilst completing its missions. There are 3 missions, two obligatory and one to be chosen by the team. The two obligatory tasks are to measure Air Temperature and Air Pressure i.e. how they vary as the CanSat descends. The secondary objective is yet to be chosen, however, the ESA (European Space Agency) recommends as examples :

Advanced Telemetry (measuring Acceleration, determining G.P.S Location and Radiation Levels)

Telecommand (Commands are sent from the ground, i.e. from a radio control, to switch a sensor on and off maybe, or change the frequency of measurements etc.)

Targeted Landing (A bit of a mix of Advanced Telemetry and Telecommand, the CanSat will autonomously navigate with the objective of landing as close to a pre-designated landing spot, data will be sent to and fro from the ground to the CanSat)

Landing System (quite a basic objective, a bespoke landing device is attached to the CanSat, e.g. a parachute, airbag or rotor blades)

Key dates coming up include the teacher's workshop in Noordwijk, and we are currently working on a presentation to present there in order to inform those who don't know us as a team as to who we are and what our proposal entails.