草榴社区

Team Spaceshot placed first in the nation. From left are team members Lucas Thelen, Aidan Barton, Steven Zelek, Hunter O'Mary, Noah Womack, Noe Poe, Haylee Winters and Gabe Whitlock.

Courtesy Space Hardware Club

Three CanSat teams from 草榴社区 (UAH) Space Hardware Club (SHC) placed first, second and third in the nation during recent international competition in the American Astronautical Society-sponsored aerospace design and production event.

Team Spaceshot was first in the nation, while Team Star Saber finished second and Team Highwire was third. In overall competition, Team Spaceshot took eighth, while Team Star Saber was 13th and Team Highwire finished 16th.

All three teams from UAH, a part of the University of Alabama System, were composed mostly of freshmen and sophomores, and it was the first CanSat experience for everyone.

CanSat is an annual student design-build-launch competition open to teams from universities and colleges that design a space-capable CanSat with payload that is launched from a rocket and descends with a parachute. The CanSat must survive the forces incurred at launch and deployment. Launches are recorded by an onboard video camera.

Teams follow an approved competition guide during the development and construction phases and then compete against each at the end of two semesters to determine the winners. This year鈥檚 competition was June 9-12 at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

鈥淎s a team lead, I learned that it is important to create relationships among team members and boost motivation to make progress on the project,鈥� says Haylee Winters, who led Team Spaceshot. 鈥淎s an electrical team member, I learned that it is important to jump in and learn as much as you can because even if you come across something that doesn't seem relevant, it will likely come up later in the project.鈥�

Ocean Bowling, Team Star Saber鈥檚 electrical sub-team lead and an aerospace engineering freshman from Louisville, Ky., learned about perseverance.

鈥淭he main takeaway I got from this was that it takes teamwork, time and commitment to make something even as small as the CanSat,鈥� Bowling says.

A peek at the circuitry inside Team Star Saber鈥檚 competition CanSat.

Courtesy Space Hardware Club

Samantha Quartuccio, Team Highwire software sub-team lead and a freshman in computer engineering from Charleston, S.C., says the CanSat experience has been one of the most rewarding for her so far.

鈥淣ot many universities have such thorough engineering programs for freshmen to experience, especially by themselves,鈥� Quartuccio says. 鈥淚t was really satisfying to see our ideas translate from paper into reality at the lab, and I can鈥檛 wait to get back in the labs and apply what we鈥檝e learned over the course of the past year.鈥�

Aidan Barton, Team Spaceshot鈥檚 electrical sub-team lead and an electrical engineering sophomore from Spring Hill, Ala., learned about project dedication.

鈥淲e could have spent more time working on the CanSat leading into the last month of competition,鈥� Barton says. 鈥淔ailing to do so created a massive crunch period for a few weeks before competition, which was especially difficult because many team members were also working on internships.鈥�

Niko Duffy, Team Highwire鈥檚 team lead and a systems engineering freshman from Huntsville, says learning how to effectively communicate and integrate different ideas was a challenge.

鈥淎lthough we struggled with integrating our parts in the beginning, in the end we had very good communication and succeeded because of it,鈥� Duffy says.

All the teams overcame challenges getting over technical hurdles, time management requirements and the need for teamwork, says Tristan Carter, the SHC鈥檚 AutoSat program manager.

鈥淏y technical hurdles, I mean all the research and learning that goes into being able to make a working CanSat. Circuit design, new programming languages and software, hardware integration, fiberglass lay-up, intricacies associated with 3D printing and numerous more that are required to have a functional CanSat,鈥� Carter says.

鈥淎s for time management, being able to balance classes, CanSat and jobs is incredibly challenging, especially when you are trying to put your best foot forward,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he biggest takeaway every year ends up being how to manage your time in a more efficient manner.鈥�

The teams are already looking forward, Carter says.

鈥淢any of this year鈥檚 CanSaters are excited and poised to hit next year鈥檚 competition with all of their experience and lessons learned from this year.鈥�

Spaceshot

Star Saber

Highwire