AAS CanSat Competition 24/25

The Competition...

About AAS

The AAS CanSat Competition, run by the American Astronautical Society with support from NASA and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, is a global student challenge where teams design, build, and launch soda-can-sized satellites to complete mission objectives from deployment to recovery.

From Design to Launch

The AAS CanSat Competition is a medium-level challenge that gives our members hands-on exposure to every stage of a satellite project. From concept design and prototyping through testing, documentation, launch operations, and post-mission analysis; mirroring the workflow of real aerospace missions.

Through this competition, our team learns to:

End-to-end mission design and Full Mission Lifecycle; from concept to launch and recovery.
Launch operations and teamwork under real flight conditions.
Engineering to industry standards with strict technical requirements, requiring verification processes.
Systems integration and problem-solving in a compact design.
Global collaboration with student teams from around the world, a chance to exchange knowledge & skills.

Mission 24/25: AutoGyro Descender

Taking SunSat to the international stage, Team UnCanny will design a CanSat capable of collecting sensor data during both ascent and descent, transmitting it to a ground station at a rate of 1 Hz. The data will include interior temperature, battery voltage, altitude, auto-gyro rotation rate, acceleration, magnetic field, and GPS position.

Team UnCanny

UnCanny Members

The niche stuff...

The team designed a CanSat comprising a container and payload to fly on a rocket. At apogee, the CanSat separates; at ~75% of peak altitude, the payload deploys from the container. An autogyro descent control system then manages the remaining descent, reducing speed from ~20 m/s to ≤5 m/s. Structures led the CanSat architecture and autogyro mechanism, while Avionics delivered sensing, data handling, and control to enable reliable deployment and stable descent.

Building, Balancing, Leading: Igor's CANSAT Experience

Igor Panfil (4th year MEng Aerospace Engineering Student) reflects on his journey as Chief Engineer while competing in the CanSat Competition 24/25...

Can you give a brief summary of the work you've done for CANSAT Competition 24/25?

"Over the past year, a big chunk of my work has been focused on UnCanny's CANSAT design. From the development of its auto-gyro descent system (including way too much CFD to make the descent rate matched the strict competition requirements, and a lot of trial and error), to designing other structural elements. From an Avionics standpoint, I focused on helping to design the communication and data handling (CDH) and ground control subsystems."

In stepping up to Chief Engineer, what changes did you make to your leadership and time-management approach to deliver CANSAT Competition 24/25 alongside your final year project?

"It definitely wasn't easy. Working on my dissertation and a separate publication throughout the year took up a lot of my time, but I was lucky to work with a dedicated and understanding team, who made being part of SunSat an absolute pleasure. Becoming Chief Engineer came with additional responsibilities related to management and organisation, which took some getting used to. I hope to continue developing these skills next year, and ensure SunSat continues to be a great experience for all those involved."

Any learning curves and challenges faced?

"In the past, I've found myself on the technical side of things, so adapting to a management role was a big learning curve! That being said, I'm very glad to have done so, and I think it has made me a more well-rounded person."

Published: 17 September 2025

Shreya’s CANSAT Lessons: Bigger Challenges, Bigger Growth

Shreya Stalin (2nd year MEng Aerospace Engineering student) on her 2nd year at SunSat as Operations Lead and Structures Engineer...

Compared with UKSEDS, she admits CANSAT 'was more technical and demanding, in a good way'. Instead of only submitting documents, the team defended both PDR and CDR to judges in a 30-minute Zoom. They rehearsed heavily, tightened the narrative from mission to risks to test plan, practiced timed hand-offs, and built appendix slides to dive deeper into the finer details.

On Structures, the steepest learning curve was getting the CFD to produce reliable results. However, everyone was engaged with it: fixing mesh pathologies, setting sensible boundary conditions, validating the results and so much more! Mass budgeting was another hidden challenge: it demanded constant communication between teams, multiple component swaps, and several design iterations.

Taking on Operations Lead, Shreya became the primary bridge between Avionics and Structures, especially on component selection. She coordinated the BOM, tracked lead times, chased details, and verified that power, mass, budgets. That role lived in the details: defining interfaces, maintaining risk registers and timelines. Even without being on Avionics, reviewing datasheets and competition docs gave her a strong grasp of how sensing, data handling, and deployment logic drove structural choices.

The crunch point was the PDR deadline, on the final day of the winter exam period. After a morning exam, Shreya and the team worked through to around midnight to submit. Painful, but instructive for CDR, as she recalls finalising requirements earlier, assigning slide for the presentation, cut non-essentials, finalised components earlier, and switched to shorter, more frequent run-throughs. The payoff was a calmer, more organised CDR.

Overall, CANSAT pushed deeper technical work and sharper communication than UKSEDS. For Shreya, the real gains were cross-discipline knowledge, decision-making under constraints, and the confidence to defend design choices live; skills that carry directly into bigger projects, tighter deadlines, and faster design lifecycles.

Published: 31 August 2025

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