CanSat Regional Launches

The regional launches went well for the St Paul’s teams with successful launches and everything recovered.

Well done to all team members and thanks go to Dr Chris Harrison and Mr David Emery for driving the team to Westcott Venture Park and back.

The Regional Launch Event guide can be read here.

Lower Eighth teams:

Team Arctos  Victor,  James, Alec, Jonathan

Team Ad Astra  Samuel, Berk, Mustapha, Ege, Marcus

Team Apollos Xichao, Jason, Wei-Shun, Alex, Oliver, Ian, Aseem (worked on CanSat but was not able to attend the launch)

Fifth form team:

Team Aspire  Avinash, Dev, Avi, Ronit, Arav, Wenjia

A report from Wenjia, Team Aspire:

CanSat is a European space competition run by ESA where students make satellites designed to fit inside a standard drink can. CanSats contain sensors, microcontrollers, and other electronics to perform scientific experiments, collect data, and transmit information back to ground stations.

On the morning of Friday 3 March, we came to school an hour early to make sure all our sensors and microcontrollers were working, and collected our antenna.

At morning break, we travelled to Westcott venture park near Oxford to launch or CanSat. After a safety briefing was given, it was prep time, and all the teams made sure their Can was ready. Unfortunately, we encountered a problem: our SD card reader was not working. After troubleshooting, we figured it was a soldering issue and fixed it on site. As we stood near the launch site, surrounded by other teams, we felt a mix of nervousness and excitement. Our CanSat launch had been a long time coming, and we had worked hard on our design. Overall, the launch went really well. We were particularly proud of our parachute design, as the spill hole added greatly improved stability. We were also happy with our Yagi antenna and sensor accuracy, as we collected accurate data from our pressure and temperature sensors. We felt really happy on the way back, and we hope to qualify for the next round of the competition.

A report from Samuel, leader of team Ad Astra:

The competition was an enthralling experience, and wiring up our CanSat and inserting all the components into our Can was captivating. Although we faced many obstacles, the overall event was a fun one, and it was truly magnificent to see our Can being rocketed off into the sky – and our parachute working!

Although data was not being transmitted, we were able to test our CanSat’s hardware: the parachute, Can structure, camera and base, all of which yielded positive results. It was a rewarding launch.

A report from Jason, Team Apollos:

The sun was shining brightly as we prepared for the exhilarating CanSat launch day. Two hours on the coach to Westcott went quickly, with everyone diligently making final preparations for the launch.

The launch was majestic: a soaring display of technological prowess, illuminating the sky with brilliant bursts of fiery energy. Our can fired up into the deep blue and descended beautifully while the crowd cheered.

The competition is a formidable one. We made friends with other teams, celebrated their successes, and faced challenges, but dealt with them as a team. The Apollos CanSat Team would like to thank the CanSat Competition for offering this wonderful opportunity to us and we would like to thank Dr Patterson and SPS staff for supporting us in this memorable journey.