CanSat is an initiative of the European Space Agency that challenges students from all over Europe to build and launch a mini satellite the size of a soda can in order to promote STEM skills through project-based learning.
Each team’s challenge is to fit all the major subsystems of a satellite inside this minimal volume, launched by a small rocket up to an altitude of 1 km. As the CanSat descends, its mission begins by measuring common key parameters such as pressure, temperature, altitude but also a specific parameter to the choice of the team with demonstrated scientific interest.
In that context, Certech experts have supported students of the 3rd degree in Science of the “Athénée Royal Jules Bordet” from Soignies – Belgium by providing help for the understanding and measurement of local pollution into the troposphere. Ozone sensor has been selected as a good indicator of the presence of organic volatile pollutants as they are well known for their interaction with the Chapman cycle leading to the increase of ozone concentration.
Certech has also taking in charge the validation steps of the selected ozone sensor in terms of selectivity, response time, sensitivity, etc…
As an independent laboratory, Certech offers the benefit of more than 40 years of expertise in the global management of gaseous emissions, the optimization of processes or the improvement of products and their environmental impact in a sustainable development context.
The ATMOS (Air and Troposphere Measuring Operational Satellite) students team has succeeded in the qualification phases and have reach the final which will take place in Elsenborn for the CanSat launch !
