A team from Glanmire Community College beat out competition from St Brogans in Bandon and Colaiste An Chroibhin in Fermoy to claim the overall winner prize at the Cork regional finals of the 2016 CanSat competition.
The CanSat competition challenges Transition Year students to build and launch mini-satellites made from common cans. Each CanSat was required to measure the air pressure and air temperature after release and during descent, teams then had to display the data collected in a graph and present their results to a panel of judges.
Teams had to fit all the major subsystems found in a satellite to their CanSat including power, sensors and communications – and provide a parachute to ensure the can had a gentle landing.
The Glanmire team now go forward to represent Cork at the CanSat Ireland National Final at Birr Castle on 15 April 2016. They will be joined by the winners of the Dublin, Galway/Mayo, Limerick, and Athlone regions (linked to Institutes of Technology) to vie for the chance to represent Ireland at the European competition in June 2016.
Dr Eamon Connolly, Electrical & Electronic Engineering Promotion Officer, CEIA, said: “CanSat is a unique space project that simulates a real satellite which fits into the volume of a soft drinks can – students launch their own satellite and get first-hand practical experience of a real space project. This initiative is designed to encourage and excite transition year students as to the possibilities of a career in science and engineering.”
The CanSat competition is a joint collaboration between European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO) Ireland and the CEIA and is co-funded by the European Space Agency and Science Foundation Ireland Discover.
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