Development of a CanSat as part of the UCH university space program (INCA Program)

Romero-Alva V.; Ramos S.; Mercado A.; Roman-Gonzalez A. · Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC (2022)

Resumen

In the aerospace field, it is widespread to hear about the research and development of satellites, and nowadays, even more about nanosatellites, their design and application are in a permanent boom that many institutions and companies have used for several years. However, even though the development of nanosatellites offers great accessibility compared to a conventional satellite, their implementation is still highly demanding in terms of time and cost in most cases. Also, many organizations interested in developing their small space programs happen to be universities or growing laboratories that want, through teaching and learning, to participate in this field to contribute to science but are limited by not having all the necessary means and resources to do so. On the other hand, the technology and application of the so-called "CanSat" have been gaining relevance due to its proposal for greater accessibility and development with a tiny budget compared to the already established nanosatellites. Although they are indeed small satellites that are not capable of being launched into space, their development and application faithfully simulate the work that one would do in orbit. For all the above, the project proposal exposes the design and development of a low-cost CanSat to carry out the space technological experience of the university program (INCA program). The INCA program, in Spanish (Investigación en Ciencia Aeroespacial), is an educational program of the Universidad de Ciencias y Humanidades (UCH) aimed at encouraging and promoting the study and development of space sciences through the student community. Regarding the design and manufacture of the device, resources that students can handle and operate are used, such as software tools and a 3D printer, and for its operation, the inclusion of programmable electronic development boards (mainly Arduino) as part of the payload, temperature, altitude, atmospheric pressure sensors, a camera module and a communication system with a range of up to 1 km are addressed. Likewise, the main objective is to carry out a proof of concept of CanSat. The results contemplate the design and development of the CanSat device with three measurement variables corresponding to the installed sensors and the image sent through the ESP32 module. It is expected that with this device, a fundamental step will be achieved in the institution since it represents a great learning opportunity in the knowledge of aerospace technology, and in this way, be trained for the formulation and development of future larger aerospace projects.

Instituciones: Universidad de Ciencias y Humanidades