Introduction: Arduino With DHT 11 Temperature and Humidity Module
“Mars tugs at the human imagination like no other planet. With a force mightier than gravity, it attracts the eye to the shimmering red presence in the clear night sky.” Our physics class has been tasked with constructing a 10 x 10 x 10 cm cube sat, wiring an arduino and picking a sensor to collect data from “the planet Mars”. Our "Mars" is a giant paper machete ball from which we will spin our cube sat around. We will spin it by connecting our cube sat to a modified fan on the ceiling.
Restraints-
10 x 10 x 10 cm
Mass less than 1.330 kg
Braeden and MJ
Step 1: Design the CubeSAT
To start we have to design our cube sat. We began with rough drafts of idea's for the shape and outline. After we we had many basic idea's for what we wanted it to look like, we combined all the best variations of those into a final design. The final design had to be to scale. It features exactly what we want our cube sat to look like. Things like how big of openings and how many there need to be for our temperature and humidity module to capture data and also where the arduino will be secured and how.
MJ
Step 2: Building the CubeSAT
To start by building the cube sat, we used the dots on the tops of the legos to measure length. For the height, since all legos are the same height, it was just based off how many legos high it needed to be. Our length/width is equal to 13 dots. Our height is equal to 11 legos. Our cubeSAT was supposed to be at most, 10x10x10 centimeters. We were over achievers.
Braeden and MJ
Step 3: Wiring the Arduino
After building the cubeSAT, the next step is to set up the arduino. An arduino is a mini computer that, when wired to different things, can perform many tasks. For this project we used a temperature/humidity module, a breadboard, an SD card, and a bunch of wires. Using diagrams from the internet, we wired the module and the SD card, so that the module would collect data and transfer it too the SD card. The hard part was creating the code. I took a code for the temp/hum module and added elements needed to get it to transfer the data to the SD card with the help of Mr. Kuhlman. Caleb
Step 4: Flight Test
One of the many tests we were tasked to do was a flight test. This is a test, to be captain obvious, would be about seeing whether or not it could fly. If it couldn't, well, back to the old drawing board. As you can see from the somewhat clear video I took, our flight test went pretty okay. You can see the string that is holding our cubeSAT in place shift a little bit and that sent my anxiety through the roof, but thankfully it did not detach and our cubeSAT survived. MJ
Step 5: Shake Test
One of the other tests our cubeSAT had to survive was the shake test. For the first video, you will have to skip towards the very end, near around 3:05 to see the cubeSAT fall apart. We modified it by adding more secure legos and strapped in the arduino with a rubber band and popsicle sticks. This was Braedon, our main designer and builder of the cubeSAT, this was his idea. MJ
Step 6: Some Troubles We Faced Along the Way
I think the most trouble we have had supplies wise was the fact that we couldn't get our code working. We had to go visit another teacher to have him help us get the correct code and upload it to our SD card so we would be able to collect data. Team wise, the people in our team weren't always on topic, myself included, and we had a lot of friction between people on our team. I have had a lot of trouble focusing in class because of certain aspects going on around me and in my life, but, pulled everything together. MJ
Step 7: Final Presentation
I did not get any photos or videos for our presentation. I do, however have a ton of pictures of reviews from our final presentation. Our presentation was about 5ish minutes long and that's only really a guesstimate. Our presentation was in sort of a gallery walk form so each group of students could walk over and talk to us and we could present our cubeSAT and arduino project to them and they would grade us on how we did. MJ
