CanSat Design Team Structures Lead

During the 2019 year, I acted as the internal Vice-President for the SSDC (Space Systems Design Club), managing competition and project participation including CanSat, Micro-G Next and the gyroscopic chair outreach project. Furthermore, I acted as the lead structures and dynamics engineer for the 2017-2018 CanSat competition team, which required development of a small “re-entry vehicle” which must stabilize under chaotic rocket deployment, eject parachutes and collect telemetry readings of the surroundings while protecting a delicate payload.

 

 

To bring the concept to fruition, I made several key contributions, including:

1. A multi-stage spring-deployable ABHS (aero-braking heat shield) frame for aero-stabilization
2. Mass savings analysis conducted through theory and SolidWorks FEA (Finite Element Analysis)
3. MATLAB numerical models to optimize ABHS deployment and simulate drop-tests

I also managed successful drone drop-test preparation and execution with the UASRP Lab, including assembly of a custom deployment fairing. Despite a successful PDR/CDR campaign, the team was unable to compete due to major delays from corrupted electronics/PCB files, however a successful competition-ready design was still fulfilled under a $650 budget.