Three Stages.
Two Missions.
One Team.
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Who Are We?
Project Athena is a team of 6 students participating in the satellite engineering CanSat competition. We are finalists in the UK competition and will compete with 13 other teams in the National Final on the 16th – 18th of April 2024.
Primary Mission
- Temperature measurements
- Pressure measurements
Secondary Mission
- Testing for planet’s suitability for energy production
- Solar, wind and hydroelectric (nearby water)
- Vital for Humanity’s Sustainable Development & Tackling the Climate Crisis.
Countdown to Launch
Our team has been consistently preparing and redoubling our efforts for our upcoming launch on 17 April 2024.
Designing the Satellite
Our satellite is can-sized. This means we have to model it to fit in as many components as possible.
Landing Systems
One of the most challenging bits is that we need our CanSat to be upright for one of our missions, so we came up with an elastic leg system.
Communications
The team needs to be able to receive real-time data from the satellite, and this requires the design of a complex antenna system.
Publicity
Our CanSat project would not be complete without the community around us, and so we have Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit to appeal to a wide range of people.
Testing Our CanSat
Of course, everything being launched up needs to be tested, and so the team has come up with a variety of pre-launch tests to assess the success rate of our CanSat.
Putting it All Together
Through months of meetings, planning and production, the team is completely committed to preparing the best possible CanSat for launch day.
Our Blog
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How Crucial is the Dismount of a Mission?
Continue reading: How Crucial is the Dismount of a Mission?“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.” Said Frank Zappa, an American musician and composer. As has been seen with the recent failed Japanese Hakuto-R moon landing mission in 2023, and early last month with NASA’s failed Peregrine mission, the landing objective is the hardest within a mission, and…
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Athena Decoded: The Yagi-Uda Antenna
Continue reading: Athena Decoded: The Yagi-Uda AntennaOne of the most important systems in our CanSat is perhaps the communications system, in particular the ground antenna. But how exactly does this work? In this post we will provide a brief overview of the type of antenna we are designing. The Athena team had decided to use a pair of antennas-the one on…
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Our Harmony in Collaboration- The Art of Effective Teamwork
Continue reading: Our Harmony in Collaboration- The Art of Effective Teamwork“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” Said Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States. This quote highlights the importance of selflessness when being a part of the team. Our team has strived to adhere to this principle. Through triumph or failure, we always would…
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Why we are using C++ over MicroPython for our CanSat
Continue reading: Why we are using C++ over MicroPython for our CanSatDuring the research phase for our CanSat, we saw that a lot of teams using a Raspberry Pi Pico opted to use MicroPython or CircuitPython for their CanSats. In fact, the CanSat UK organisation recommends (or at least implies) using Python. However, we think that it is better to use C++, assuming you are confident…