How can we design, build, and program a model of a Mars Orbiter, that will collect data and inform us on specific aspects of the planet?

By: Abe, Mason, Jackson, and Wyatt

Step 1: Planning

Brainstorm and Research designs for Cubesats and its purpose

Create designs for different CubeSats and decide which is most suitable

Find information on the parts and materials you'll need

Gather what materials you will be needed to build your CubeSat

Materials

Popsicle sticks
Wood Glue
Arduino
DHT11 sensor
Wires
Tape
SD card
SD card reader

Step 2: Build the Structure for the CubeSat

Create the structure by gluing Popsicle sticks together in the shape of X's overlapping with a boarder of Popsicle sticks on the outsides, the top and bottom are covered side to side of the Popsicle sticks.

For the shelf, it's Popsicle sticks glued together side to side glued half way up on the inside.

The reason for the shelf is for the inside of the Cube sat so the arduino has a spot inside the Cube sat.

On the bottom that is where the bread board and the battery will be.

To secure the parts we used tape, to make a door so that we can get we used tape so it would be easy place the ardunio and parts.

The pictures above are a sample of what its supposed to look like after it has been completed.

Step 3: Coding the Arduino

Go to circuitbasics.com and search up DHT11 and there you will find the code

#include

dht DHT;

#define DHT11_PIN 7

void setup(){ Serial.begin(9600); }

void loop() { int chk = DHT.read11(DHT11_PIN); Serial.print("Temperature = "); Serial.println(DHT.temperature); Serial.print("Humidity = "); Serial.println(DHT.humidity); delay(1000); }

That is the code we used for the arduino

void setup() {
// Open serial communications and wait for port to open: Serial.begin(9600); while (!Serial) { ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only }

Serial.print("Initializing SD card...");

if (!SD.begin(4)) { Serial.println("initialization failed!"); while (1); } Serial.println("initialization done.");

// open the file. note that only one file can be open at a time, // so you have to close this one before opening another. myFile = SD.open("test.txt", FILE_WRITE);

// if the file opened okay, write to it: if (myFile) { Serial.print("Writing to test.txt..."); myFile.println("testing 1, 2, 3."); // close the file: myFile.close(); Serial.println("done."); } else { // if the file didn't open, print an error: Serial.println("error opening test.txt"); }

// re-open the file for reading: myFile = SD.open("test.txt"); if (myFile) { Serial.println("test.txt:");

// read from the file until there's nothing else in it: while (myFile.available()) { Serial.write(myFile.read()); } // close the file: myFile.close(); } else { // if the file didn't open, print an error: Serial.println("error opening test.txt"); } }

void loop() { // nothing happens after setup }

And that is the code for the SD Card reader

Step 4: Testing

We conducted 2 different tests on our CubeSat

1. The Shake Test- we placed our CubeSat on the shake machine for 30 seconds to see if it would hold together

-passed

2. The Flight Test- we connected our CubeSat to a string and had it orbit around a model mars for 30 seconds to see if it could hold the weight of the CubeSat.