CanSat Leader Training Program (CLTP) Report
Hironori SAHARA1) Emiko ANDO2)
1)

Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan
2)
UNIversity Space Engineering Consortium (UNISEC), Tokyo, Japan
Cltp-office@unisec.jp

Abstract
CanSat Leader Training Program (CLTP), established in 2010 as part of the Japanese national program of New
Paradigm of Space Development and Utilization Opened by Micro/Nano-satellites with Reasonably Reliable Systems„Hodoyoshi‟ Concept led by Prof. Shinichi Nakasuka in the university of Tokyo, is sponsored by UNISEC to provide atraining course for researchers and educators as one of the capacity buildings in space technology, and contains whole cycleof CanSat development involving design, fabrication, and launch by a model rocket or a captive balloon, lectures on spaceengineering and nano-satellite development, and tours of Japanese space institute, so that the participants are expected tolearn the hands-on space engineering education methods using CanSat and to be leaders of space technology developmentin their home countries. The 3rd CLTP is co-hosted by Tokyo Metropolitan University and UNISEC from July 17 to August
20. In this paper, the result of the 3rd CLTP is reported.
Key Words: CanSat, Training Program, Space Engineering Education

1.

Introduction

U.S. And students from Japan and some other countries havebeen attending ARLISS since 1999[1]. Driven by theseactivities, UNISEC, University Space Engineering
Consortium, was founded in 2002[2] and became NPO in
2003 to train students for innovative space activity and tocollaborate among universities throughout Japan. UNISEC isconsisted of more than 640 students from 40 universities andmore than 220 individuals and 10 supporting members. Not
only CanSat, but also activities such as Micro/Nano/Picosatellite project, Hybrid rocket project and many other typesof space activities are supported and cooperated.
Now, we decided to launch this knowledge and experience
to all over the world.
Rei Kawashima, Chair of International Committee,UNISEC, declared, “We will make the world that space
activity is not something special. That is such a world that
more than a half of numbers of countries on the earth has
ability to develop satellite/spacecraft. Then it will be naturalfor human activity to go out of gravity of the earth.” This is
the core motivation of why CLTP was held in Japan.
The 1st CLTP (CLTP1) was held in Wakayama University
from February 14 to March 20 in 2012 with 12 participantsfrom 10 countries of Algeria, Australia, Egypt, Guatemala,Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Vietnam. [3]

CanSat is a small satellite analog, which has been used for
introduction of practical space engineering for more than tenyears. All of the components, such as sensors, actuators, andGPS, are housed inside a 350-ml Soda-can. CanSat provides
an affordable opportunity for educators and students toacquire basic knowledge of space engineering and toexperience engineering challenges in building a satellite. In
addition, they can learn basics of system engineering, project
management, teamwork through CanSat activities.
The low cost of implementation, short preparation time andsimplicity of design compared to other space projects make of
this concept an excellent practical opportunity for students totake their first steps in space.

Fig. 1. CanSat developed in CLTP3

When it comes to developing small satellite, time and cost
are required; thus even if students somehow get chance to be
involved in small satellite project, they can hardly learn wholedeveloping process of satellite but work on a specific part inlimited time.
In Japan, CanSat activity has been developing for more thanten years since Robert Twiggs introduced it in Stanford
University. ARLISS, A Rocket Launch for International
Student Satellites, is held in Black Rock Desert, Nevada, theFig. 2. CLTP1

The 2nd CLTP (CLTP2) was held in Nihon University fromNovember 14 to December 14 in 2011 with 10 participantsfrom 10 countries of Ghana, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia,1Nigeria, Peru, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. [4]Fig. 3. CLTP2

In CLTP3, we aimed to have a chance not only to teach thesignificance and values of the basis of satellite subsystems butalso to let the participants work so-called project managementout on their own CanSat development, i.e. the importance ofinterface among not only subsystems but also humanresources. We are going to open the new report of CLTP3
held in Tokyo Metropolitan University from July 17 to August
20 in 2012 with 10 participants from 9 countries of Brazil,Egypt, Israel, Lithuania, Mongolia, Namibia, Nigeria,Philippines, and Turkey, in the symposium.

Indeed the number of components in the Basic System
was a few, but their perfectly-harmonized operation wasvery difficult, and the participants are expected to aim
the perfect operation as first priority.
We noted that the members in a team developed acommonly-designed team CanSat in cooperation witheach other; typically each member had charge of asubsystem of the team CanSat and all of them were
integrated to the team CanSat as a whole system. This
style is in common with actual satellite development orproject management.
If the participants had surplus time, we allowed that they
installed their team‟s own mission (Optional MISN) intothe team‟s CanSat, as shown in Fig. 5. Once again, theparticipant's first priority was to complete theperfectly-harmonized operation of Basic System.

Fig. 5. Basic System, plus Optinal MISN in CLTP3 CanSat

2.2 Schedule
CLTP3 was progressed according to the following
schedule.
Fig. 4. CLTP3 participants and TMU mentors
Table 1.

2.

CLTP3 Program Contents

2.1 Lesson 0
Before the start of CLTP3, we introduced the outline ofCanSat, its development environment, basic electronics, andtools for CanSat development as Lesson 0. We recommended
the CLTP3 participants to read and understand them by thetime of their arrival in Japan. As for the versatile products,
they could find their information in detail on thecorresponding websites. In addition, we informed them asfollows:
 Participants in CLTP3 divide into 3 teams; each teamconsisted of 3 or 4 members and had one chance tolaunch a representative CanSat with a model rocket in
Noshiro Space Event (NSE). Before NSE, eachparticipant had 1 or 2 chances of his/her own flight test
by using a balloon in Tokyo Metropolitan University(TMU).
 CanSat developed by the participant in CLTP3 wasbasically defined as a basic combination consisting of
on-board computer (OBC), GPS, transmitter (XMTR),
memory (EEPROM), camera (CAM in MISN) andground station (GS), and we called it the Basic System.

CLTP3 Schedule

1st week

Inauguration Ceremony
CLTP Basic Course - Lecture Series #1-5

2nd week

CLTP Basic Course - Lecture Series #6-10
CanSat Fabrication

3rd week

CanSat Fabrication

4th week

Field Test by Balloon5th week

Field Test by Model Rocket on the occasion of 8th
Noshiro Space Event held in Akita, Japan

2.3 Lecture Series
One of the purposes of the CanSat Leader Training Program(CLTP) is to learn, through a miniaturized satellite,
significance and values of the following basic systems:
1) Command and Data Handling (C&DH),
2) Communications,3) Electric Power Supply,
4) Sensor,
5) Actuator,
6) Structural System,
7) Parachute,8) Accessory Device,9) Mission,10) Ground-Based Station.
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It is also to study how to combine element technologies ofthese systems for satellite operation, which is called theassembly, integration and test (AI & T) in a broader sense. Inaddition, the CLTP has an important mission to develop
human resources capable of teaching space engineering
education, using CanSat in particular, after its completion. The
following lectures have been given as the CLTP basic course
by UNISEC teachers.
1.

Introduction to and Overview of CanSat by ShinichiNakasuka, The University of Tokyo
2. CanSat System and Subsystem and Preparation
before CanSat Development by Shinichi Nakasuka,
The University of Tokyo
3. Mission Subsystem by Hironori Sahara, TokyoMetropolitan University
4. Structure and Accessary Devices by Hiraku Sakamoto,
Tokyo Institute of Technology
5. How to Organize the Project and Design Reviews bySeiko Shirasaka, Keio University
6. RF Communication Subsystem and Ground Station
System by Seiji Kuroki, Professor Emeritus, SokaUniversity
7. Sensors and Actuators by Masahiko Yamazaki, Nihon
University
8. Command and Data Handling (C&DH) subsystem
and Power System by Shinichi Kimura, Tokyo
University of Science
9. Ground Test and How to Feedback by Yasuyuki
Miyazaki, Nihon University
10. Ground-Field Test and Safety Standards by Hiroshi
Hirayama, Kyushu UniversityFigs. 6.

Documents created by the CLTP3 participants

2.5 Field Tests
The CLTP3 participants completed their CanSat
development by Aug. 8, made a whole check on Aug. 9, andconducted a flight test with a balloon in TMU, as shown inFigs. 7. The purpose of the test was to confirm soundness of
their integrated CanSat of the Basic System related to theabove, and to experience their demonstration as one of themilestones and learn the flight test in order to hold the similar
experiment in their country after CLTP3. As the result, they
achieved confirmation of their CanSat and extracted problem
points from the final flight in NSE.

2.4 Documents
The duration for CanSat development at CLTP3 was short
as a month, so that we relieved the task of documentations.
However, we requested the CLTP3 participants as team byteam to document the followings in oder to share anawareness of the development of a system and confirm
soundness of the system, as shown in Figs. 6:
 Mission Plan Document
cleared up the purpose of participants for CLTP3,
declared their mission statement, defined mission
objective requirements for the mission, success criteria,
and criteria for judgment of success and failure.
 System Specification Document
made the requirements correspond to respective
specifications, classify the specifications to subsystems,and configured a system to show its system block
diagram.
 Contingency Plan
was always updated by teams for their confirmation andprocedure before flight.

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Figs. 7. Conducted a flight test with a balloon in TMU

Figs. 8.

The CLTP3 participants improved and more developed
their CanSat until Aug. 14, the day before departure forNoshiro. At the end of works on Aug. 14, we, the CLTP3
participants and TMU members, cleaned up the workroom weused for a month; all members took well awareness that 'Clean

Teams in CLTP3, just before their launch

The participants obtained their respective results; 8 CanSats
were of success to achieve the mission of the Basic Systemand shot very nice movies from the sky. Fig. 9 is one scenefrom the movies, and some of them caught the other CanSats
in flight shown in Figs. 10.

up the place before when you leave' was a part of project
management and its importance.
We all left for Noshiro on Aug. 15, and set up a site of NSEand made a final confirmation on Aug. 16. On Aug. 17, wesucceeded in launching 10 CanSats of all the CLTP3 participants,
as shown in Figs. 8, thanks to Prof. Akiyama and the othercollaborators.

Fig. 9.

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One scene from the CanSat in flightintegration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources,communication, risk and procurement management". The
importance of teamwork made them perform technicaldiscussion, documentation, and learning from failures andconflict resolution, carried out the tests that enable them tocontinually improve.
In addition, CLTP activities allow not only CLTPparticipants but also Japanese students of the host university toestablish international collaborative network of contacts in theinternational space education. These activities will help form
International CanSat student groups who will be able toparticipate in international CanSat competitions in the near
future.
Continuing improvements can be applied for future CLTP,
and succeeding efforts are indispensable.
Acknowledgments
First of all, we'd like to take this opportunity to express ourgratitude to the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan for
funding support on this program. In addition, we received
generous support from Noshiro Space Council concerning theCanSat Launch Test on the occasion of the 8th Noshiro Space
Event held in Akita, Japan from August 17-19, and Sahara
Laboratory member staffs of Tokyo Metropolitan University,staffs of Wakayama University and UNISEC worked very
hard behind the scenes.
We owe our deepest gratitude to lecturers, including Prof.
Nakasuka, Prof. Kuroki, Prof. Miyazaki, Prof. Kimura,
Associate Prof. Shirasaka, Dr. Hirayama, Dr. Sakamoto andDr. Yamazaki.
Last of all, it was an honor for us to work together with
CLTP3 participants.

Fig. 10. A CanSat in flight taken by another CanSat

3.

Result and Future Plan

CLTP3 ended successfully as they all experienced theprimary purposes of this program. Instruction material ofspace education focused on CanSat is now in progress, and it
is going to be tailored and translated into the version ofrespective countries.

References
1.

4.

Conclusion

2.

We will be watching how this project will be followed up in
the participating countries as Post CLTP activities.
Once again, CanSat is very useful to encourage young
students into science and engineering careers. These activities
have been carried out with a relatively low cost, where thematerials are reusable and recoverable. By this practicaltraining in the development of CanSat, students are able to:conceptualize the mission, plan and design, as well as tomanufacture and test their prototypes on the ground, change
and improve iteratively their CanSat prototypes. It educates
students on key basic concepts of project management with apersonal experience in the following areas: "project

3.

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http://www.space.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/cansat/r_index.html (August 2012)
UNISEC Website, "About UNISEC",
http://www.unisec.jp/about/indexe.html (August 2012)
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