GPS

As part of our secondary mission we chose to add GPS to our can. We chose GPS so that we can easily find the can after it is launched. The GPS module we chose is manufactured by adafruit, and is quite small. This makes fitting it inside the can very easy. Over the midterm I began implementing it into the can, the adafruit GPS runs at a different baud rate to most other GPSs so this took quite some time.  Thankfully after changing some of its settings I managed to get it working. Below is a journey I plotted using the GPS.

By Niall

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Munster Champions! 

Yesterday was a long day for the team! We departed from Limerick at 6:30 in the morning and there was a long day ahead of us. 

We arrived in CIT at 8:30 and everyone was slightly anxious and apprehensive - however, we had too much to do to let that stop us. We received our slot - number 5 - and began to work. 

Of course on the day of the competition everything that could go wrong did! Our frequency was changed, our battery died and the pressure sensor had a fault in the code. As a team, we all worked together and our can had an excellent launch. We were thrilled with the data received and began making graphs and finishing our presentation. 

All teams were offered a second launch and we enthusiastically accepted this opportunity to see our can descend again. 

At 1:45 the presentations began and the competition was fierce. All teams had worked extremely hard over the past few months and that was evident. Each can was unique in its own right and we did not envy the judges! We were proud of our presentation and were asked tough questions by the judges. 

After 5, the judges returned with their verdict. Two teams were to go through yesterday. Douglas Community School was the first winner announced and after what felt like forever, Crescent College was announced! 

We all stopped in a restaurant before heading home and had a wonderful celebratory dinner. Arriving in at 8:30 last night, we all knew that the competition had just begun... 

Thank you to Chris's mum for the transport and Niall's mother and sister for moral support! Special thanks to Anne O'Dea, the judges, Eamon Connolly and all from ESERO and CIT! 

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Below is a clip of our launch yesterday! Stay tuned!!! 

By Hugh 

SENSORS 

For the CanSat project we have two missions, a primary and a secondary.
For our primary mission we must calculate three things: pressure, altitude and temperature. 

The pressure sensor that was provided to us in the kit was not as accurate as we would have liked and did not allow for varying atmospheric pressure on a day to day basis. Therefore, we are using a digital pressure sensor. We are going to be using the Digital Bosche BMP 085 pressure sensor. From using this sensor we are able to calculate a very accurate pressure and therefore a very accurate altitude reading as there is a linear relationship between pressure and altitude. 

For the temperature we are using the thermistor provided for us in the kit.  The BMP 085 also comes with a built in temperature reading which is extremely accurate and so we will be using this too. 

We have also purchased an SD card data logger back up for the wireless and we are in the process of finishing this we are going to write to it over an SPI.


For our secondary mission we will be using a humidity sensor. We will also be using a GPS that is almost ready to go but will not be ready for tomorrow due to the weather this week. We are writing to this over a soft serial that we have tested and proved to be working by using the wireless. We are also looking into the possibility of using something related to space debris or space trash if we progress further in the competition. 


By Chris

Soldering 

As part of the CanSat competition, we have to wire up all the components ourselves.

This involves a process called soldering. The process of soldering involves melting a metal alloy over electronic components to join them together. 

Soldering is  cementing the components together to place them in the can so it is a very important process. Special soldering irons are needed for this process and unfortunately, we don’t have these irons in our school.

A local electronics manufacturing company, ON Semiconductor, offered us their facilities. So last week Chris and I went to their office and were met by Cathal O’Lionaird who gave us a tour of the building and brought us down to their lab. Cathal then gave Chris and myself a demonstration on how to solder and left us to it. 

It was a really interesting experience and was something we’d never done before. We then regrouped with Hugh and Tayyaba and explained everything we had learned. 

Special thanks to Cathal and ON Semiconductor! 

By Niall

Want to broaden your space knowledge? 

Follow the links below for interesting facts and videos on Space Science and Explorations! 

www.esa.int 

www.cnes.fr 

www.nasa.gov

http://www.esa.int/ESA_in_your_country/Ireland

http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos

There will be posters going up around the school next week displaying some interesting Space Facts! 

By Hugh 

The Parachute is ready for take-off! 

It was a long process which started off with a lot of research. Firstly, I researched all of the different types of fabrics and shapes.  I decided to use a segmented dome shaped parachute as it should support our can better during the landing. 

Crescent’s previous entry, Team Rocket, used red and yellow nylon to make their parachute. Their successful outreach programme inspired the founding of Candroid. To pay tribute to this, we have used the same fabric and colours. Obviously, our parachute differs in shape and the formula we are using is not the same! 

The next step was to get a 3D image of the parachute. A DCG Teacher in my school helped me to form an image using Solid Works. I then converted it to a 2D image. 

I printed the 2D image to use them as stencils for when I cut the fabric. 
One of my major difficulties in making the parachute was trying to keep it in line when I was using the sewing machine. 

By Tayyaba