What is our mission?

Each team that participates in the CanSat competition needs to complete two missions: the primary mission and a secondary mission. But what are these? 

What is The Primary Mission

The primary mission is the core objective shared by all teams participating in the CanSat challenge. In this mission, our goal is to measure both the temperature and the pressure at different altitudes and transmit this data in real-time to our ground station. The collected information will then be analyzed, and graphs will be created to better understand the environmental conditions at various heights.

To achieve this, we must ensure reliable communication with the CanSat, which will be launched to an altitude of 1,000 meters. One of the key requirements for successful communication is the development and testing of a self-built antenna. This antenna will be crucial for maintaining a strong connection between the CanSat and the ground station during the mission.

In addition to communication, the CanSat must be designed to return safely to the ground without damage. To protect the CanSat during descent, we need to design and implement an effective parachute system. However, there is a specific requirement: the CanSat must descend within 77 seconds after being ejected from the rocket. To meet this, the CanSat must have a minimum terminal descent rate of 13 m/s to comply with the mission guidelines. This ensures that the data collection process occurs at an appropriate altitude and allows the team to gather the necessary environmental data.

By combining accurate measurements, reliable communication, and a safe descent strategy, the primary mission will provide valuable insights and test our technical and design skills.

What is our Secondary Mission?

The Secondary Mission is freely designed by each team, so everyone's Secondary Mission is different. The only requirements are: the CanSat must fit inside a 66 mm x 66 mm x 115 mm can, and it must demonstrate  some scientific, technological, or innovative value. The mission in question? 

Exploring other celestial bodies to find one that could serve as a suitable home for our species. It was a mix between unbridled curiosity for space and the vast unknown, a look at the future, and the relevant geopolitical issue, which is climate change. We believe that we, as the next generation, have a duty to prepare for a world that will not be habitable any more. Although this is a grim prospect of the future, it sadly is also a possible one. Currently, the people in charge of governments and big corporations still view climate change as a problem best suited for the person after them to solve. With this approach, we will inevitably end up with a planet that will have suboptimal conditions for life. Even if we manage to fix our own issues, and make the planet a suitable place for our species again, the need for a second Earth is still present. As a species, we wish to spread out throughout the galaxy and live along the stars we see in the night sky. 

Our mission will focus on two important factors when finding a habitable planet we can cultivate into a second earth. These are the atmospheric composition and the radiation on said planet. We will measure the intensity of UV radiation, as this is a harmful type of radiation that is common in the universe, due to the amounts stars emit. Along with that, we will look at infrared. Although this can not harm us, it does tell us about the heat of the planet we are on, which is also an important piece of data for a possible colony that will live on the planet. Using eight arms which can extend out of our CanSat, we can create a 3D map of our measurements, by combining our 9 infrared sensors (I2C MLX90614), we can measure the difference in infrared radiation. We will do it at multiple altitudes, so we can also see the difference altitude has on the radiation. The same principle will be applied to our four UV sensors(GUVA-S12SD), but this will be a 2×2 map instead of a 3×3 as used by the infrared measurements. We chose to do this because we will not only receive a nice 3D map of our measurements, but also because it will reduce the chances of individual sensor failure having a big impact on the collected data, making it more accurate. 

We will also measure the composition of the atmosphere. Originally, we wanted to measure all kinds of different chemicals, but with limited amounts of space inside the CanSat and a maximum budget of 600 euros, we had to make a slight compromise. We now have a single gas sensor (MQ-2) that can measure a plethora of different chemicals, such as LPG, i-butane, propane, methane, hydrogen, alcohol, and smoke. These are, in particular, chemicals of which we do not want large quantities present in the air, as they can be poisonous, or deprive us of the ability to breathe.Methane is the most important chemical we want to test, due to it having the characteristic of showing possible living environment for organisms.

 Since our mission is related to Earth, and because the eight arms make the CanSat technically an octopus, our logo features an octopus above Earth, symbolising the search for a new Earth, and one of our core distinguishing features: the eight arms of the CanSat.