Space: attendants of the Air Force Academy in the USA for the CanSat final

(To air Force)
14/06/22

Over the past weekend, a representative of the Aeronautical Academy attendees participated in the final phase of the CanSat competition and, in parallel, the Training Units of the training institute had the great opportunity to visit American structures of excellence in the aerospace sector. and emergency medicine.

As part of the activities carried out within the training units of the Aeronautical Academy, particular emphasis should be given to the result achieved by a team made up of five students of the Institute and two students of the Master's Degree course in "Aerospace Engineering" active at the "Federico II" University which, after having passed all the stringent selective phases of the CanSat competition, promoted by the American Astronomical Society, had access to the final phase which took place at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg over the weekend.

The test consisted in throwing an object in the shape of a can, assembled according to a varied set of limits related to the weight, structure and cost of the materials used. It was an exceptional experience for the visitors who were thus able to deal with academic realities from all over the world (of the 49 teams that arrived at the last test, of which 4 from Europe, only 23 actually managed to carry out the launch and among these was the joint team of the Academy and UNINA). The intention is to participate again next year by enhancing the lessons learned learned in this year's edition.

This important opportunity was taken to jointly organize visits to centers of interest in the aerospace and emergency medicine sectors.

In particular, as regards the "Academy Space Team for Research and Aerospace studies" training unit, it was possible to visit the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly.

The frequenters of the PROMETHEUS training unit, interested in the development of the branches of emergency medicine, were able to go to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center of Bethesda, center of excellence for the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers, with cutting-edge techniques and prostheses.

Also in this case, the returns in training and in terms of experience have been remarkable and can be considered the culmination of the path carried out in these 18 months since the creation of the training units, a reality made up of attendees belonging to all classes of regular courses, independently from the role / body to which they belong, whose objective is to deepen the knowledge (theoretical and practical) of domains of particular aeronautical interest (dronic; cyber security; aerospace; emergency medicine), thanks to the support of a vast network of stakeholders university, industrial, military and research. These activities have so far been carried out in an extra-curricular area, while starting from the next Academic Year they will gradually be included in the normal study paths of the students.