CanSat

Description

CanSat is a project centered around up to three teams’ entry and participation in the annual CanSat Competition organized by the American Astronautical Society. This annual competition has its teams design, build, and fly rocket payloads that meet design criteria that change from year to year. As such, the teams and the designs also change annually with a new iteration of the design. The competition releases the information regarding the design goal in August and holds the launch in June, meaning that the project runs in parallel to much of the school year and additionally requires periodic updates on the status of the design in formal design review presentations (Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, Flight Readiness Review, Post-Flight Review) based on NASA’s model. This competition serves to give participants a taste of an actual design process and is a great learning experience for the various systems that go into an engineering system (mechanical, electrical, and software design).