A CanSat is exactly what it sounds like - a satellite built to fit inside a soda-can-sized enclosure. Despite the small form factor, a CanSat carries many of the same subsystems found in real satellites: a power supply, a microcontroller, sensors, and a wireless telemetry link.
In our CanSat Mission Starter program, students begin with the mission profile: what data needs to be collected, how it will be transmitted, and how the CanSat will be recovered safely after its descent. From there, they assemble the electronics, write firmware to read sensor data - temperature, pressure, altitude - and test the wireless link end to end.
The final step is a simulated launch and descent, capturing live telemetry as the CanSat falls - the same kind of critical-phase tracking used by real spacecraft missions.
Students who want to go further move into our Senior-level CanSat & Satellite Systems Engineering program, which adds GPS tracking, sensor fusion, and competition-grade mission requirements - preparing them for national CanSat and satellite-design competitions.
