Iranian university ranks second in US satellite competitions

Tehran's Amir Kabir University ranked 2nd in the US CanSat 2013 competitions participated by 25 teams from around the world, where competitors launched the small satellites that they had designed and built. "The international CanSat 2013 competition was held in the state of Texas in the US from June 7 to 9 and the team of Amir Kabir University's Electronic Engineering College ranked 2nd in the competition," Caretaker of the team Heidar Ali Talebi said on Tuesday. He said that the teams which took part in the competition were judged 4 times. In the first stage, 40 participating teams sent the documentations of their satellites' initial design to the referees. "Later, 25 teams were selected out of 40 for the final stage, and finally, the US, Canada, the UK, the UAE, Turkey, India, Colombia, Guatemala and Iran went to the final," he added. The teams launched their satellites at a distance around 700 meters from the Earth by rockets. The teams also presented a report about their operations after the return of their satellites. Three teams were selected in the last stage, Talebi said. The US stood first followed by Iran. Canada stood 3rd in the race. Also two Indian teams ranked 4th and 5th. The American Astronautical Society (AAS) and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) organized the annual student design-build-launch competition for space-related topics.