CanSat ‘24 Recap

Building a Can sized Satellite for the second time

The Can-Sat project is organized annually by the ESA and the TU Wien Space Team. The aim of the event is to motivate young people from all over Austria for space technology. Over one and a half semesters, the participants build a "satellite" no bigger than a can. Several sensors fit into this can to fulfill missions.

We learnt a lot as a team during CanSat 2024. We arrived at the competition with perfectly functioning hard- and software. Our base station, including an own antenna, worked perfectly, we got great range tests. Armed and ready for launch day, we made slight changes to a subsystem when, to our dismay, a USB-port on an Arduino ripped of while plugging it in. This setback unfortunately led to our disqualification from the competition. After initial frustration and anger, we learned a very valuable lesson:  Take nothing for granted. No matter how well you think you are prepared, you aren’t prepared well enough. We also learned to never give up and spent the next day brainstorming ideas for CanSat 2025, learning from our previous mistakes. We are readier than ever to return next year!