From June 26th to the 30th, 26 teams gathered in Granada, Spain, for the 2023 European CanSat Competition, organized by the European Space Agency, and hosted by Producciones Científicas y Técnicas in collaboration with Parque de Las Ciencias.
The participating teams are the winners of their National CanSat Competitions, run annually mostly by ESA’s European Space Education Resource Offices (ESERO) and national partners. The quality of the projects delivered by all the teams was astonishing and the jury had an extremely difficult task of selecting the final winners.
During a packed four day schedule, the students presented their project, passed a technical inspection, underwent a drop- and radio test, launched their CanSat and presented their results to the jury.
On the launch day, a total of seven rockets were launched to approximately 1 km. altitude, carrying as many as four CanSats each. In the afternoon, the students started working on their results and presented their conclusions in front of the jury the following day. After that, it was up to the jury to select the winners from all the teams. During the closing ceremony on the final day, all the participants received a well-deserved certificate and the winning teams of each category were announced.
- Best CanSat Project was awarded to AstroPanthéon from France. According to the jury:
“Outstanding science. Originality of the experiment. Team dedication and attention to the details. The CanSat is properly designed to conduct the specific experiment. Extraordinary outreach initiative (by the team) to explain, in a public square of a foreign country (!), such a complex scientific topic to a wide audience.”
- Outstanding Science Mission was awarded to µCan from Finland. According to the jury:
“High scientific interest, very well mastered by the team throughout preparation, flight and post-mission analysis. Excellent scientific method and approach.”
- Highest Technical Achievement was awarded to v-space from Greece. According to the jury:
“Technical interest highly relevant to the community in the modern world. Complex technical subject. Excellent flawless performance, demonstrating competence and coordination within the team.”
- Most Professional Team was awarded to Astra Aether from Germany. According to the jury:
“Major adaptability shown by the team by gathering a very detailed failure analysis investigation. Well-structured team, with roles well defined, allocated and professionally fulfilled.”
- Best Outreach Prize was awarded to WerndlExplorer from Austria. According to the jury:
“Very novel way of getting the CanSat data available to many people, in real time during launch and mission, broadcasting it on the internet. As well as original and effective “branding” of the project.”
For the first time, the Jury decided to award two teams the Honorary Award. The award was given to Dr0p from Poland and Phoenix 2 from the United Kingdom. According to the jury:
“Very good across the whole spectrum of abilities from Science to Outreach. Excellent mission performance and results.”
ESA is proud of all the teams and their achievements during the campaign and thanks all of the students, mentors, jury members and the local organizing staff for their contribution to this event!
From school year 2023-24, the national winning teams will be welcomed by ESA at its ESTEC site for a brand-new learning and celebration event: ‘Space Engineer for a Day,’ to occur at the end of June in 2024.