[HN Gopher] Show HN: My high school team's space probe
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Show HN: My high school team's space probe
Me and a few friends made this design document as part of our entry
to the UK CanSat competition where a high school team is required
to build a probe to be launched. The probe must serve some purpose,
and ours was to map the temperature and pressure of the air at
different altitudes. We had the opportunity to launch it a week
ago and you can find the video of our launch here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16bsLzxjP7OWRqVvCB62cLv7QYLR...
During the launch we reached 400m above sea level, and the can
pulled 70gs successfully. The parachute and can stayed intact.
Unfortunately, on the day, we were unable to successfully implement
GPS. The raw results are here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oK1vukjcNcsaXMAPeFlzZ66aHlR... And
a slightly cleaned up version is here:https://drive.google.com/file
/d/1xYhkp3sWoJF0bCkkvFs1AygSdLU... I used my data presentation
software to present our results here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-r7lT0J4MDLiYfuaasDXJsr5rCA... The
software (in the form of a python script to be executed in blender)
can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LHP7OwgI_O8t6-NBI0ZPn9JUt2G...
It's not pretty, but it works. The differences in temperature and
pressure results were exaggerated in the so that the gradient could
be clearly seen. Unfortunately, we did not get into the final
(judged on this document) but it was an awesome experience
nevertheless. The judges used this form to mark us:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eZnum5zuJvkLzY7RLtm9A-NNzxw... We
would love to get any feedback from more experienced people, as we
intend to do similar projects in the future and at least two of us
want to be professional engineers. I'm happy to reply to any
comments.
Author : JohnOfOsgiliath
Score : 126 points
Date : 2025-03-16 08:48 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (drive.google.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (drive.google.com)
| Scarjit wrote:
| Congratulations on your launch! Super interesting to see all of
| the technical documentation behind it.
| JohnOfOsgiliath wrote:
| Thanks so much for the kind words. I really enjoyed writing the
| documentation.
| hermitcrab wrote:
| >I really enjoyed writing the documentation.
|
| I'm not sure I've heard anyone say that before. Documentation
| is usually considered a necessary evil.
| sailorganymede wrote:
| From the UK too. Seeing those docs gave me a total whiplash! I
| remember the amount of paperwork we had to do for these kind of
| projects. Funny how nothing has changed.
| JohnOfOsgiliath wrote:
| Yeah. I can't tell you how much time we spent typing in the
| library. We spent so much time on risk assesment, that we
| nearly forgot to write about electronics.
| notahacker wrote:
| It's good practice for working on ESA projects in a
| professional context ;)
|
| Edit: harsh marking on the risk register. Very realistic
| practice for dealing with ESA in a professional context! I do
| like the flowcharts and block diagrams
| JohnOfOsgiliath wrote:
| Yeah, that would be cool. Also, are you an actual aerospace
| engineer? That's awesome!
| notahacker wrote:
| I'm not an actual engineer, but I do write actual UK Space
| Agency and ESA bids for a living. UK Space Agency would be
| kinder on the marking :)
| JohnOfOsgiliath wrote:
| I get you were just showing support, but as the guy who
| co-wrote the document, could I drop you an email about
| work experience?
| notahacker wrote:
| Sure, feel free to send an email to the email in my
| profile
| jadayesnaamsi wrote:
| Great project!!
|
| Interesting that the largest section of the report is the last
| one called "Social Media outreach" to justify their choices.
| JohnOfOsgiliath wrote:
| Thanks so much. I think we just really wanted to explain our
| plan on social media (and our outreach person didn't have much
| to do).
| mattmaroon wrote:
| How much would it cost right now to buy 10% of your future
| earnings? (Half-kidding.) Kids these days are kind awesome and
| don't listen to anyone who says otherwise.
| JohnOfOsgiliath wrote:
| I'm really grateful for the kindness. That sort of attitude is
| great to hear, and I'll keep you in the loop about money ;)
| xattt wrote:
| How were you able to tap into the expertise to get to this point?
| Rocketry isn't something you can just "pick up"! I'm very
| impressed.
| JohnOfOsgiliath wrote:
| I can't speak for my whole team, but as the
| programmer/electrical guy/writer I have spent a few years
| teaching myself skills using the internet. I used YouTube
| tutorials to learn to code, and use blender, and that sort of
| thing.
|
| Also, to be fair, we didn't quite build the rocket, we just
| built the probe.
| the_arun wrote:
| It is great to see High School projects on HN. Congratulations &
| wish your team all the best!!
| JohnOfOsgiliath wrote:
| I really appreciate that. I just really enjoy being a part of
| this community, and I'm glad we can represent the younger
| generation.
| assimpleaspossi wrote:
| When I was in grade school, our teacher taught us that one way to
| test for a properly constructed sentence containing two persons
| or groups was to remove one and see how it sounds or looks. Such
| as, "Me made this design document..."
| exe34 wrote:
| "Me buy milk" -
| https://youtu.be/N4vf8N6GpdM?si=ENOIbip3xDuRI9yJ
| connorgurney wrote:
| A great saying, perhaps, but is this all you have to contribute
| to the conversation?
| viggity wrote:
| This is mega levels of dope. Small UI/UX suggestion on your
| report... Take all of your table borders, and change the color
| from black to a light gray. The borders add value (communicate
| the organization of the data). But that data isn't as important
| as the text/numbers inside the table. "Visual weight should match
| information relevance"
| JohnOfOsgiliath wrote:
| Great idea
| hermitcrab wrote:
| Have you tried entering UKROC? It is great fun and there is very
| little paperwork required! It is all about designing and building
| your own rocket. It is for teams of 11-18 year olds in the UK.
| Mostly schools, but also cadets, scouts and youth clubs.
|
| https://www.ukroc.com/
|
| Regionals are happening around the UK right now. There are
| equivalent competitions in the USA, France and Japan. The best
| teams get to compete at the Farnborough or Paris Airshow, which
| is an incredible experience.
| JohnOfOsgiliath wrote:
| Thanks! I'll check it out.
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(page generated 2025-03-16 23:01 UTC)