Scientific students create prototype satellite in bid to win UK competition

The group of six students, aged 17 and 18, from Allestree Woodlands School, entered the UK CanSat competition back in October. It is a nationwide battle to design and build their own simulation of a real satellite – but it has to fit within the volume and shape of a soft drink can. After building their CanSat, teams are invited to launch events across the UK to test their CanSats on small rockets, with their CanSats returning to Earth using a parachute designed by the students.

Allestree Woodlands School has been taking part in it since 2015 and teams from the school were the UK champions in 2018 and 2019. They went on to represent the UK in the European competitions in the Azores and Balogna, Italy.

This year’s team - made up of Archie Cooper, Edward Vallance, George Bennett, Stefan Alexandru, Philip Evans and Ian Chung - is hoping for similar success when they launch later this week.

They said they got involved to develop practical engineering skills alongside the mainly theoretical content of A-Levels and that they divided roles up for project based on existing skills and interests. Edward explained: “I took on the software development and team members lead their own part of the project, using our existing knowledge and learning new things to solve problems along the way.” The team is currently preparing for the UK final on Thursday, including laser cutting landing legs and upgrading the CanSat structure with lessons learned from the regional launch event.

Archie added: “The goals of our CanSat imagine that we are in the prototyping stage of engineering a reusable rocket. For a prototype to be effective, certain critical data must be collected for further engineering processes. Therefore, we imagine this prototype would test its landing systems, measure its descent trajectory and rate as well as the external conditions and transmit these live to a ground station, much like the current development of SpaceX’s Starship.”

The team members at Allestree are aspiring to a variety of future studies and careers in engineering, including mechanical and aerospace. Stefan said: “Some of us are looking at degrees or degree apprenticeships and this will be a great practical experience for us.” The team is led by teacher Greg Duffy. He said the competition had helped to equipe previous students with skills they went on to use in future careers. "One previous student, currently an aerospace engineer in the UK space industry, said that it was CanSat that allowed her to stand out from the many other excellent applicants,” he said.

The team will launch their satellite today (Weds) at Elvington Airfield before presenting their results to judges tomorrow.