Thunderclap Labs' first foray into satellite technology — the Cansat v1 was a fully functional miniature satellite built to fit inside a standard soda can, featuring electronic systems, telemetry, and successful data transmission during mission.
Our First Step Into Space
Every aerospace program has a beginning. For Thunderclap Labs, it was a soda can.
The Cansat v1 was our inaugural satellite project — a miniature satellite engineered to fit within the form factor of a standard 330ml can. Small in size, but not in ambition: the Cansat v1 had to survive launch, descend under parachute, collect sensor data, and transmit it back to ground — all from a package smaller than your hand.
It worked.
The Mission
CanSat is an international student aerospace competition format in which teams design, build, and fly a satellite-class payload in a soda can form factor. The challenge forces extreme constraint-driven engineering: every gram, every millimeter, and every milliwatt counts.
Our mission objectives:
- Survive launch and deployment from altitude
- Collect real-time sensor data throughout descent — temperature, humidity, altitude, acceleration
- Transmit telemetry continuously to a ground station
- Recover the payload intact for post-mission analysis
All objectives were met. Data transmission was successful throughout the mission.
What We Built
Electronic Systems & Telemetry A custom electronics stack handling sensor fusion, onboard data logging, and live RF transmission to our ground station. Telemetry was monitored in real time throughout the descent, with altitude, position, and environmental readings streamed continuously.
3D-Modeled Structural Design The physical housing was designed from scratch in CAD — optimizing internal volume allocation for electronics, antenna routing, and parachute deployment while staying within the strict cylindrical form factor. Every component had a reason to be where it was.
Software & Ground Station Onboard firmware managed sensor polling, data packaging, and transmission. On the ground, our custom software received, decoded, and visualized the incoming telemetry stream in real time.
Why It Still Matters
The Cansat v1 wasn't just a competition entry. It was the foundation of everything that followed.
The disciplines it demanded — systems integration under tight constraints, reliable telemetry, hardware-software co-design, field testing — are the same disciplines underpinning our rocket, propulsion, drone, and atmospheric programs today. We learned to build things that have to work, not just things that look good on a bench.
The Cansat v1 remains Thunderclap Labs' first successfully flown aerospace system, and the starting point of our aerospace journey.