Amazing teams at the 2022 European CanSat Competition!
In brief
Last week (20-25 June), 25 teams from 21 ESA Member States and four Associate States gathered in the town of Castel San Pietro Terme, Bologna, Italy to participate in the European CanSat competition 2022! There were more than 200 participants at the event, including jury members and staff members.
In-depth
Before students could launch their CanSats, they had to present their project overview to the jury, pass a technical inspection, and successfully undergo a drop-test from a drone. Once complete, 13 rockets launched 25 CanSats on day 2 of the event. After an exhaustive search, carried out by the teams themselves, accompanied by staff members, 21 CanSats were retrieved. On 23 June, teams made their final presentations to the jury and audience– a very packed day with presentations taking place from 11:00 to 20:00.
On 24 June, the winners were selected across the following categories:
Best CanSat Project went to YesWeCan from Switzerland: The team’s secondary mission was to measure if life was present at the landing location. They did this by placing a nutrient-rich solution in a hermetically sealed sterilised test tube inside the can. After the can landed, a pump brought air into the system to allow potential bacteria and living organisms the chance to grow in the solution.
Outstanding Science Mission went to CosmicSat from Belgium: The team’s secondary mission focused on muon detection, using two Geiger counters working by the coincidence principle. Their scientific goals were to prove the special relativity and to test the influence of the solar activity on the rate of cosmic rays.
Highest Technical Achievement was awarded to Team FireSat from Greece: Their aim was to collect data from the atmosphere, which would indicate the risk of fire spreading, and in case of a fire breaking out, to monitor the fire in real time, while also observing the consequences it could have in the surrounding areas.
Most Professional Team was awarded to team FinderSat from France: their mission focused on collecting, transmitting, and saving data about the weather (temperature, humidity, cloud activity through luminosity and atmospheric pressure variations, amount of dust, seismic activity) and taking videos of the planet to better understand its environmental conditions.
Best Outreach Prize was awarded to Go A.C.T. Girls from Italy: their secondary mission consisted of an environmental analysis carried out by measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone (O3) in the air and performing a thermal analysis of the soil.
The Jury awarded a special ‘Honor Prize’ to team Lënster Space FalCan from Luxembourg, whose CanSat was lost with their luggage – but worked with determination and persistence to create a new CanSat from scratch and launch it.
ESA would like to thank the teams, the members of the jury and the Sierrafox staff for their support that contributed greatly to making this a successful event.
We’re looking forward to seeing you at one of our CanSat events!
You can see the photo gallery here and watch the recordings of the final presentation event and the closing ceremony event of the 2022 European CanSat Competition!