About MinneSat
MinneSat is the University of Minnesota's CanSat competiton team. The CanSat competiton is an annual design-build-launch competition focused on space-related projects, organized by the American Astronautical Society (AAS). Students are involved in the full end-to-end life cycle of a complex engineering project—from initial design through to integration, testing, and final operation.
The competition is open to university teams from around the world, and the University of Minnesota is proud to have a team in this competition. Each team designs and builds a space-type system, following the guidelines provided by the competition.
2027 Leadership
Meet the student leaders guiding our 2027 CanSat project. This dedicated team coordinates our engineering efforts across systems, mechanical, and electrical disciplines.
Nathan Johnson
CoLead + Systems Lead
Leads the software team, from flight code design through integration and system testing.
Spenser Chinn
CoLead + Mechanical Lead
Leads mechanical design and CAD, and builds the infrastructure used to test the CanSat.
Sam Holm
Electrical Lead
Leads sensor selection, PCB design, and electrical testing for the payload.
Our Legacy
Explore our CanSat competition projects from 2022 to 2026.
Our Sponsors
We are grateful for the support of our sponsors who make our participation in the CanSat competition possible.
Collins Aerospace
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering
University of Minnesota Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics
Cummins
Northrop Grumman
Become a Sponsor
Interested in supporting our team? We are always looking for new sponsors to help us reach our goals.
Get In Touch
Have questions about our team or interested in joining? We'd love to hear from you!