Credit to: https://codepen.io/Dooove/pen/abbPjKwLoading...
About CanSat
The Canadian CanSat design challenge is a competition where teams are tasked with building a soda can-sized satellite to perform scientific missions. The cans are launched in high-power model rockets to an altitude of approximately 1 km at the launch campaign in Alberta.
All teams are required to perform a common primary mission, to gather air pressure and temperature data, and a secondary mission of their choosing. The winning team will represent Canada at the European Space Agency’s International CanSat event, held in the Netherlands.
Our Team - Team Aphelion
Jason Huang, Hinson Chan, John Xu, Tristan Yan-Klassen, Anthony Lu, Mendel Reiseberg

Primary Mission:

Atmospheric temperature: accurately measure and analyze temperature data to gain insight into temperature variations at different altitudes

Atmospheric pressure: accurately measure and analyze pressure data to gain insight into pressure variations at different altitudes

Secondary Mission:

For our secondary mission, we intend to test a soil sample for the presence of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins and a fundamental component of life. To achieve both this objective and the primary mission, we will need to complete the following mission objectives:

- Transmit pressure, temperature, and position data from the CanSat to our ground station while under controlled descent.

- Land the CanSat in the correct horizontal orientation.

- Successfully drill a soil sample and bring it onboard.

- Using an onboard ninhydrin solution, test the sample for the presence of amino acids.

- Analyze the results of the test and determine if amino acids are present in the sample.

Our mission is a proof of concept for the testing of other planets for the possible existence of alien life. Although we only perform a singular test on the soil sample, this could be adjusted to accommodate for alternative tests, such as for soil composition or pH.

Scroll Down!