The CanSat winning team 2021 is determined! Team CanTaurus are four students from HTL Leonding in Upper Austria. They wanted to start with their project already in 2020, but unfortunately the final had to be cancelled due to Corona. But the four young Upper Austrians didn’t let it get them down and competed again in 2021.
They did not make it easy for themselves. They quickly implemented the primary mission and had ambitious goals for the secondary mission. Their CanSat is to fulfill the following imagined secondary mission: Earth is becoming uninhabitable due to climate change and now extrasolar planets are to be found on which life is possible to the extent that humans can be relocated there. To explore this, the CanSat is to land on an extrasolar planet and collect data: Humidity, gravity, CO2, CO, O2, CH4 concentration, magnetic field, radiation, solar irradiance and record a spectrum in visible light. Furthermore, there will be a slime mold on board that will be filmed as it behaves on the alien planet and the CanSat will also land on retractable feet. The plans are really very ambitious and also very imaginative.
Due to the restrictions in this school year, the implementation was more than a challenge and not everything could be finished in time. In addition, the rocket of the TU Wien Space Team probably had a defect in the motor and did not reach the desired target altitude.
Despite all difficulties Team CanTaurus convinced with its project and passed in front of a 6-member jury of specialists. Representatives of the bmk, FFG, ZAMG, TU Vienna Space Team, Vienna Technical Museum and Ars Electronica Center were impressed by the team’s creativity and commitment.
Team CanTaurus will now represent Austria at the European CanSat competition of ESA in autumn. We wish you all the best!
Here are the highlights of the final:
If you are interested in the contest just join next time!
For info:
The CanSat Austria project has been taking place in Austria since 2017. It is a competition for high school students. Their task is to build a satellite the size of a beverage can. This is transported by a rocket to a height of around 500 meters and ejected. During its descent back to the ground, the CanSat must complete two missions.
In the primary mission, the mini-satellite is to measure temperature and air pressure and transmit the values to the ground station at least once per second. From the air pressure values collected, the actual ejection altitude and fall rate must be determined. In addition, a temperature profile shall be obtained.
In addition, the satellite is to fulfill a mission chosen and developed by the participants themselves. The starting point can be a scientific question, a technical problem or a project idea of social relevance.
Participation in the CanSat competition offers students the opportunity to go through all phases of a real space project. These range from mission selection, design of the CanSat, integration of technical components, technical test runs and the actual launch of the mini-satellite to scientific analysis of the acquired data. In addition, soft skills such as teamwork and interdisciplinary thinking are trained.
The winning team qualifies for the international ESA CanSat competition, where the students can compete with the winners from other European countries.
