Picosatélite diseñado para medir concentración de gases de efecto invernadero y registrar imágenes en vuelo

The VoltaX team, made up of Aerospace Engineering students at the University of Antioquia, developed a CanSat —a satellite system the size of a soda can— for the CanSat Colombia 2020 Innovation Challenge, an event organized by the ieee Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (aess) Colombian Chapter. The satellite was designed to meet the mission requirements established by the organization, which included the constant transmission of data to the earth station at 1,000 m distance, measuring variables such as temperature, linear acceleration, magnetic field, and atmospheric pressure. Additionally, a gas sensor and a GoPro camera were used to estimate methane concentrations and capture high-quality images, respectively, with the purpose of monitoring greenhouse gases and using the images for precision agriculture applications. Additive manufacturing and commercial-off-the-shelf (cots) electronic components were used to build the prototype, thus minimizing costs. Finally, functional tests were carried out on all the subsystems, confirming the correct operation of the CanSat. The designed picosatellite, identified with volt4201 plates, took the second place within its category.