St. Andrew's students (from left) Agnes (Aggie) Zau, Ariana Vergara, and Nicole La Fetra give careful attention to the assembly of a CanSat to ensure integrity of the air frame during the rocket's ascent.
Just call these St. Andrew's students rocket scientists
By Leigh Ann Maze
Twelve budding young scientists from St. Andrews School in Saratoga have been building two satellites--small enough to fit inside a soda can--for the past seven months. The team will take a bus to Black Rock, Nev., on July 27, to launch their tiny satellites.
Although they won't actually go into orbit, the satellites will be shot on a rocket about 10,000 feet into the air. As they parachute back down to earth, the satellites will transmit data to the students via radio for about 15 minutes. The students have fashioned the satellites to transmit color video from a tiny camera, as well as temperature-and barometric-pressure data.
In order to receive the data that will be transmitted over amateur radio frequencies, 10 of the 12 students earned their ham radio licenses for the project.
"A lot of knowledgeable people didn't think that many kids were smart enough to get their amateur radio license. But it didn't surprise me at all." said Richard Kors, who volunteered to serve as mentor to the project.
Student Reed Kavner said it was time-consuming, but not hard. "I knew hardly anything about ham radio before I joined the club. Right when I got my license I went to Fry's and bought a very basic, cheap radio and I've been having so much fun with it. I'm totally absorbed."
The St. Andrew's students will be joined at the Nevada launch and camp-out by two groups of university students from Japan, a group from the University of Arizona, a group from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and another middle school from Redwood City.
"These kids will be launching their own little satellite in a can with the big guys," Kors said.
The students, six boys and six girls, had to learn basic electronics and soldering to create their satellites. The science club was guided by Kors, parents Mehdi Safipour and Skip La Fetra, volunteer mentor Al Rendon and Robert Twiggs, director of the Space Systems Development Lab in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University.
The Satellite in a Can, or SatCan project, began in January when Safipour approached Kors about helping his daughter with a science project. Kors thought it would be fun to help an entire group of kids, and the St. Andrew's science club was born. Kors opened the club to any interested seventh-grade student who was willing to earn an amateur radio license.
The idea for the Satellite in a Can project started in Spring 1999, when Twiggs started the program to give graduate students in Stanford's satellite program hands-on experience and skills, according to Kors.
"So we're doing work similar to what first-year graduate students do at Stanford's satellite program," Kors said.
After the launch in the Nevada desert, the St. Andrew's science club will write a report on the results of their project. But it is uncertain whether the science club and the Satellite in a Can project will continue next year, according to Kors.
The club managed to get by this year by raising $700 from parents and making a presentation to a venture capitalist parent who gave the club $1,000. Hewlett-Packard also loaned the club two laptop computers.
According to Kors and St. Andrews headmaster Harry McKay, the school will not officially sponsor the club next year.
Kors hopes that they can find some way to keep the club going.
According to Kors, Twiggs believes that if the science club can keep the Satellite in a Can program going for the next one to two years, he might be able to organize a real satellite launch.
For Kors, launching the satellite is not the highlight of working with the science club, however. Rather, he enjoys the opportunity he has to make a difference.
"One father told me his daughter was mainly interested in hair spray and lipstick," Kors said. "And now she is serious about school and other things."
Saratoga, California Since 1955
