White Noise NTUA team wins fourth place in CanSat 2019


CanSat 2019 is an annual university student design-build-launch competition for space type systems organized by the American Astronautical Society and sponsored by NASA. A total of 93 teams from universities and colleges from all over the world participated in this year’s challenge that was hosted in Stephenville, Texas, from 14th to 16th of June, 2019.

We are proud to announce that White Noise, the team that represented NTUA and our country, Greece, came in an impressive fourth place in the international rating, with a score of 94,756%. White Noise achieved a historic success by being the first Greek student team to have ever participated in this space competition. They successfully passed the various stages of the competition, first by submitting the required Preliminary Design Report & Critical Design Report and then by being one the few teams approved to reach the finals. The team consists of 6 undergraduate students from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and 2 from the School of Mechanical Engineering of the NTUA.

Each year the organizers challenge the teams with a different mission. The main objective of the mission for 2019 was to implement an auto-gyro based descent control system for safe re-entry of the satellite in the atmosphere. The system is comprised of a free-spinning rotor designed to provide a descent rate within the competition requirements, while also ensuring maximum stability. White Noise’s design also features 3 active control fins that provide extra stability and ensure the satellite will maintain a steady orientation during the descent. To achieve this, the satellite has embedded 2 electronic boards hosting various sensors and chips. Finally, in the lower frame of the satellite, a landing gear is located to absorb the shock and protect all critical subsystems during the landing. Academic support and assistance to the research, development and construction of White Noise’s final design were provided by both NTUA Schools.

The eight talented students of White Noise share a passion for space engineering and they enjoyed working hard on the challenge in their spare time for almost a year. As they said “we have a chance to put into practice what we have learned in the classroom. We believe in our design and we believe it’s possible to win this competition against all the odds”.

Watch the OPEN TV interview here

Watch the ERT TV interview here