Search

The 1st CanSat Competition for Pinoy High School Students

Jerome
Oct 7, 2015
3 min read

Dr. Sese (3rd from the left) joined by the high school participants during cansat competition held in Los Banos, Laguna. In front of them is a hexacopter used to deploy the cansats [Oct. 6, 2015].

WSW with a new twist

The first monday of October marks the start of the World Space Week (WSW)--an annual event celebrated for the awareness and advancement of space science. In the Philippines, DOST heads this national event wherein programs and activities including exhibits and public lectures related to space, water bottle rocket competition, poster making contest, and the likes are held. What makes this year special is the introduction of CanSat competition for high school students in cooperation with Regulus SpaceTech Inc. (RSTI), a company headed by the Filipino astrophysicist Dr. Rogel Mari Sese.

Twelve (12) teams from different high schools in the country participated in the competition.

Say what?

Yup, you heard it right. CanSat is an acronym for can satellite which literally describe satellite the size of a soda can. This represents a quantum leap of advancement of space science education in the country when compared from the past years. Before, the most challenging task assigned to students was the understanding of basic rocket science and its application to the design and construction of water-propelled PET bottle rockets. The use of plastic folders, duct tape, and scissors have now evolved into the use of soldering iron to make circuits.

It has GPS too!

We are not talking here about conventional copper wires, lightbulbs, and batteries only. This year's competition involved the implementation of state of the art electronic elements such as GPS, pressure and temperature sensors and other optional sensors in a structure that resembles a can. Of course, students have to know not only how to develop the hardware but also software which included programming to automate the system in gathering meaningful data using the sensors. The students underwent training beforehand but the students built the entire CanSat from scratch in just a day followed by its launching the following day.

Cooler Setup

During last year's WSW, Dr. Sese demonstrated to students the CanSat he made by launching it as a payload with parachute in a water bottle rocket. This year, teams put their CanSats as payload in a hexacopter. The hexacopter is a small, remote-controlled drone that resembles a helicopter except that it has six propellers. Other drones are also locally developed by RSTI. Sounds badass right? The hexacopter then ascended the payload one by one until it reached the 100 meters mark before finally dropping them. During descent, the CanSat should ideally deploy its parachute, gather data and transmit them automatically to a ground station. Of course, the CanSat must be robust enough to remain intact and succeed the flight.

CanSat

Five (5) out of twelve (12) teams achieved successful data gathering. Among them, the top three performers were:

1st Place: Grace Christian HS

2nd Place: Philippine Science HS (main campus)

3rd Place: Makati Science HS

This is already a big achievement for these teams. This competition proved that that even high school students could be trained to develop a useful technology once deemed too technical for their age. In hindsight, this feat is still far from realizing a working satellite but the foundation has been laid out. Dr. Sese is optimistic that we will get there soon. The hope is more high schools especially those outside Metro Manila will participate in this one of a kind event. One thing is certain: next year's competition will be cooler and more badass than we have seen ever!