International CanSat rocket launch competition returns to Tarleton June 8-10

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STEPHENVILLE (May 21, 2018) — The 14th annual American Astronautical Society (AAS) CanSat Competition returns to Tarleton State University June 8 through 10, with more than 40 college and university teams from around the world vying for top honors.

Teams from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, India, Iran, Turkey, Poland and the United Kingdom will compete to launch a space probe into the sky. Each probe will carry a large hen’s egg, which must survive the flight.

Probes will be launched inside rockets, which should fly 670 to 725 meters. Sensors on the probes will track altitude using air pressure, external temperature, battery voltage and GPS position.

“We are honored to host the 2018 student CanSat competition,” said Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio. “This event draws some of the brightest young minds in engineering from around the world, and we are thrilled to welcome them to our campus. I am grateful to our students on the Tarleton Aeronautical Team, their faculty mentors and CanSat sponsors for making such a significant international event possible in Stephenville.”

The competition requires teams to work on a complex engineering project, allowing them to experience — on a small scale — a typical aerospace program, from preliminary design to a post-mission debriefing.

The 14th annual International CanSat Competition returns to Tarleton State University June 8-10, with teams from around the world vying for top honors at the Agricultural Center/College Farm. More than 40 teams representing colleges and universities from as far as Turkey and India will launch small-scale rockets during a public event Saturday, June 9.

“CanSat is truly a hands-on project that fosters creativity,” said Steve Merwin, event coordinator and a mathematics instructor at Tarleton. “This competition forces students to work together as a team rather than as individuals, creating invaluable skills they will someday need in the workforce.”

Teams will undergo flight readiness reviews and pre-flight briefings on Friday, June 8, beginning at noon. Rocket launches will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 9 at Tarleton’s Agricultural Center/College Farm, located just off FM 8, west of U.S. Highway 281. Saturday’s events are free and open to the public.

Post-flight presentations are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 10, at Tarleton’s Lamar Johanson Science Building, and awards will be given at 6:30 p.m. at the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center.

In addition to Tarleton and AAS, this year’s CanSat competition is sponsored by the Naval Research Laboratory, NASA, Siemens, Kratos and Praxis Inc.

As host for this year’s AAS CanSat contest, Tarleton’s internationally recognized aeronautical team will not compete.

Tarleton’s aeronautical team was created in 2011 to compete in the international CanSat competition and has participated in a NASA-based competition every year, bringing home third-place honors in the 2016 Student Launch Centennial Challenge and winning second place in 2015.

For more information on the AAS CanSat Competition in Stephenville, call Merwin at 254-968-1764 or email merwin@tarleton.edu.

To learn more about the 2018 CanSat Competition, visit www.cansatcompetition.com.

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