Students on the Space Technologies Programme have the opportunity to enter CanSat, a national competition that provides students with the chance to build their own simulation of a real satellite to launch at events across the UK.
Two teams of first year space students from Alton named Ember and Wendle made it to the regional finals, held at Salisbury Plain at the beginning of April.
Team Wendle
- Grace Wickens: Project Management
- Leo Gambrill: Electronics and Coding
- Molly Powell: Radio Frequency Engineering
- Robert Powell: Outreach Manager
- Ollie Parobok: Mechanical Engineering
Team Ember
- Isla Doe: Outreach
- Peter Bensilum: Project Management
- Harrington Pearce: Electronics and Coding
- Charles Bridges: Outreach
- Katja Wagner-Gammon: Coding
Out of 300 teams across the UK, Team Wendle was one of just nine selected to compete at the national final, held at the National STEM Learning Centre in York, from 29 April to 1 May.
Despite their first launch at the final being compromised by a corrupted battery, Wendle were able to band together, showing incredible resilience to complete a last-minute rebuild. Speaking about overcoming this challenge, Wendle member Grace Wickens said:
“It was very daunting to be faced with such a major challenge so early on. Completely redesigning and rebuilding the satellite from scratch certainly added to the pressure of the day. However, I’m so proud of how the team was able to adapt and overcome this. Special thanks to Ollie and Leo who were able to rapidly redesign our satellite after things went a bit wrong!”
The rebuilt satellite was then successfully relaunched, and was able to collect lots of valuable data on the temperature and pressure of the air, reaching incredible heights of up to 400 metres.
Not only did Team Wendle successfully launch their satellite and collect atmospheric data, but they were also awarded Best Outreach! This award was well deserved, and the result of months of hard work from everyone on the team.
Robert Powell, who managed Wendle’s outreach programme, was especially proud:
“It’s such an honour to be recognised as having the Best Outreach in the country! Everyone on the team has worked so hard to get us to the national final, so walking away from the competition with this award truly does mean a lot.”
Ruth Cheesman is a science lecturer at Alton College and accompanied Wendle to the final. She was full of praise for the team, saying:
“It’s been an amazing experience. I'm so proud of the hard work and resilience shown by the students, particularly after the electrical malfunction. Seeing them pull together and completely redesign the satellite was inspirational to watch.”
Team Ember also continued their CanSat story beyond the regional final, running workshops with local Scout groups. These workshops have allowed the Scouts to learn more about the space industry, and even launch mini rockets of their own! This truly embodies the community spirit that Alton College prides itself upon.
At the end of this academic year, students on the Space Technologies Programme at Alton will spend a week at Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, studying a Level 4 module in Space Engineering. This is a truly unique and rewarding experience that comes with studying at Alton, granting these students a valuable glimpse into higher education and the inner workings of the industry.
For more information about Team Wendle’s success, please visit these links:
- Website: https://3501056.wixsite.com/wendle
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alton_hsdc_CanSat_wendle/profilecard/?igsh=MW14OXJyczBsbzhwaw%3D%3D
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@CanSat.wendle?_t=8rYPajot4iX&_r=1
To find out more about studying on the Space Technologies Programme at Alton, please visit: https://www.hsdc.ac.uk/home/space-technologies-programme/