Enhancing CanSat Mission Safety: An Autogyro-Based Landing Solution

Abstract

This paper presents an autogyro system for the safe landing of a class of compact satellites in miniature called CanSat. The proposal ensures the safe landing with fragile payloads by protecting the essential electrical and mechanical systems. The proposed autogyro system, consisting of six blades, is designed to reduce the impact force at ground by means of generating a passive lift force during descent that decelerates the CanSat in free fall. In addition, a decoupling mechanism, activated via telemetry, allows for the separation of primary and secondary payloads during descent, facilitating the deployment of the autogyro system. The methodology of this paper encompasses the autogyro design, its construction, its integration with a CanSat, its validation through data colection in free fall, and the analysis of results. Free-fall experiments were conducted from drones and buildings in close to wind-free conditions. The results showed that the optimal deployment of the autogyro system reduced the descent speed and protected the payload. The maximum deceleration registered during free fall was 4.94 ms-2 in 0.37 s. Future research may explore improvements in blade design and testing in various environmental conditions by means of sensing additional degrees of freedom during the free-fall dynamics.