CanSat 2026-2027: Challenge your students to build a can-sized satellite

Join CanSat 2026-2027, where secondary school student teams aged 14 to 19 are challenged to fit essential satellite components into a container with the volume and shape of a soda can.

Throughout the school year, students will experience each phase of a real space project such as the mission design, development, testing and launch, operations, and data analysis. National competitions are taking place across Europe and Canada. Two additional countries are hosting CanSat competitions this year: Latvia and Switzerland.

Why join CanSat as a teacher or educator?

CanSat offers a unique hands-on opportunity to engage secondary students in a space engineering project. Students will:

• Gain deeper knowledge across various STEM subjects through an enjoyable, engaging, and space-focused engineering project. 
• Build essential skills and competencies such as teamwork, proactivity, design thinking, and problem-solving.
• Have the chance to take part in a national competition and connect with other teams in your country.
• Be inspired through interactions with experts from the national space industry, enriching their study and career prospects. 

What is CanSat?

CanSat is an educational project run by ESA, the national European Space Education Resource Offices (ESERO), and various partners across different countries. It challenges students to design and build their own small satellite: a CanSat.

A CanSat is a simulation of a real satellite, integrated within the volume and shape of a soft drink can. The challenge for the students is to fit all the major subsystems found in a satellite, such as power, sensors, and a communication system, into this minimal volume.

The CanSat is then launched by a rocket up to an altitude of approximately one kilometre, or dropped from a platform, drone, or captive balloon. Then its mission begins. This involves carrying out either a scientific experiment, a technology demonstration or achieving a safe landing, after which the collected data are analysed.

Every participating CanSat team will have to accomplish two missions:

1) A mandatory primary mission to transmit and collect temperature and pressure data at least once per second via radio communication during the CanSat’s descent;

2) A secondary mission that is left entirely to the team’s creativity and ambitions. This secondary mission could involve collecting data on some physics variables during descent, studying Earth's atmosphere and habitability, demonstrating an innovative new technology, or pursuing any other creative idea.

How to apply?

Teams of students aged 14 to 19*  are eligible to participate. Over 25 countries across Europe and Canada host dedicated national competitions. Teams must apply through their respective national CanSat competition. For detailed information on all national competitions, click here.

A special prize for the winners of the national competitions

The winning team from each national competition will be invited by ESA to its technical centre in the Netherlands for a learning and celebration event called the CanSat Space Engineering Summit, to take place in June and July 2027.

This event will celebrate the accomplishments of the national winning teams, giving them the opportunity to visit an ESA establishment, meet the other national winners, present a poster related to their project, and to engage with engineering and career-related activities. Learn more about the event here.

Key dates:

• Official kick-off of CanSat 2026-2027: 16 September 2026 (in some countries registration opens earlier or later: check your national competition for specific dates and timeline).
• The CanSat Space Engineering Summit at ESA ESTEC (for national winners only): 30 June-2 July 2027.

For full project details and to get started, visit: cansat.esa.int

* Students enrolled at a post-secondary/tertiary institution are not eligible to apply.

Please be aware that further requirements may be imposed by your national competition organiser.