Outstanding event at ESTEC for national winners of ESA-ESERO CanSat project
In brief
From 18–20 June 2025, winners of the national CanSat competitions from 25 countries gathered at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) for the ‘CanSat - Space Engineer for a Day’ 2025 event. CanSat is an interdisciplinary school project run by ESA, ESEROs and other national organisers where secondary school students build can-sized satellites. ‘CanSat - Space Engineer for a Day’ is a unique initiative that celebrates students’ achievements and immerses them in the real-world experience of a space engineer. 119 students presented their projects, explored ESA’s facilities, engaged with professionals, and took part in hands-on engineering-focused activities.
In-depth
It all started with a unique CanSat
Building a CanSat begins with a simple yet powerful concept: defining a unique scientific or technology mission and fitting the core systems of a satellite within the space of a soft drink can. Students aged 14 to 19 work in teams of 3 to 6, guided by a teacher or mentor. Together, they must complete a primary mission for their CanSat - measuring temperature and pressure - and then define their own secondary mission. They need to think like space engineers, balancing aspirations, mission objectives, constraints and creativity to bring their satellites to life. It is no easy feat to fit the major subsystems found in a satellite—such as power, sensors, and communication—into this minimal volume and shape!
Once ready, the CanSat is launched by a rocket to an altitude of approximately one kilometre, or dropped from a platform, drone, or captive balloon. The CanSat mission then begins, collecting data, testing technologies, and demonstrating innovation.
From a national competition to the ESA event
The teams earned their invitation to ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, by winning their national CanSat competitions. This year, 25 competitions took place in 22 ESA Member States Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), as well as Lithuania, Slovakia and Canada. The national competitions were kicked-off by ESEROs, national organisers, and the national space agencies in September 2024 and concluded in spring 2025.
The CanSat - Space Engineer for a Day event is non-competitive and aims to celebrate the teams’ achievements while offering a glimpse into ESA and a variety of space activities, with a focus on engineering.
Participants arrived in the Netherlands on 18 June for the opening ceremony, where each team had the chance to introduce themselves and get to know each other during an icebreaker activity.
A tour of ESA's facilities, diving into the future of space
On 19 June, the day began with inspiring talks by Clara Cruz Niggebrugge, STEM Learning Coordinator, on the European space programme, and by Ilaria Roma, Head of the System & Concurrent Engineering Section, who explained how space missions are born.
The main event took place in the Erasmus Innovation Centre where the students were immersed in space, surrounded by hardware models and interactive showcases. They toured ESTEC's facilities with ESA experts, including a virtual visit to the Test Centre and demonstrations of robotic experiments and 3D printing in space.
CanSat national winners present their missions
Students had the opportunity to share their projects and experience with fellow participants and ESA experts during the poster session. Each national team presented their CanSat project through a poster, just like professional researchers—sharing their mission objectives, design process, and results. This was a chance to celebrate their achievements, exchange and learn with peers. Several ESA experts, including ESA young professionals, joined the poster session to meet, inspire and engage with these enthusiastic young engineers-in-the-making.
“I think one of the most exciting things about being here is the collaboration between all the different teams and how friendly everyone is and how easy it is to speak and work with everybody that all share such a passionate interest in such an important field. And it fills me with such optimism to be able to achieve such great things together as a European community and really achieve some brilliant things.”, commented one of the students.
Design a space mission with the concurrent engineering approach
Following the poster session, students were divided in groups and were given a challenge to make the feasibility study of a new space mission. They then spent the rest of the day designing their own space mission, according to the provided requirements, using the concurrent design engineering approach under the guidance of Massimo Bandecchi, Former ESA Concurrent Design Facility Manager and Founder. Unlike traditional sequential design, concurrent design brings all experts together in the same room to collaborate in real-time. This approach ensures that requirements are met efficiently, and decisions are made collectively.
Students were divided into technical disciplines, each responsible for specific parameters. Through interactive teamwork, they developed the spacecraft design—mirroring the collaborative processes used in real mission design at ESA’s Concurrent Design Facility (CDF).
To wrap-up, the two teams had the chance to present their feasibility studies and the conclusions of the concurrent design process.
Space Careers: Working together to connect the Moon with Earth and much more!
On 20 June, students engaged in a role-play simulation activity. Collaborating in groups, they discussed strategies for developing a mission to ensure Earth’s connectivity to the Moon. Divided across four rooms, students assumed roles based on various space job profiles. They were tasked with embracing their assigned roles, collaborating, and compromising where necessary to formulate a mission implementation plan. This plan was subsequently presented to the readiness review board for evaluation.
The simulation was succeeded by an inspirational session dedicated to exploring the diverse career paths within the space sector. This session included an interactive quiz covering various disciplines, from engineering and science to communications and operations.
A student commented: “I hadn't really decided particularly on a career path and I was weighing up a couple of options, but being involved in CanSat, seeing the results of our hard work, and coming to the European Space Agency - seeing all the models and the brilliant opportunities - definitely made me much more interested in going into astrophysics and technical areas.”
After three days of intensive learning, exploration, and collaboration, students returned home more motivated to pursue studies and careers in STEM fields, enriched with new knowledge, competencies, and enduring memories.
About CanSat
CanSat is an interdisciplinary project coordinated by ESA, 22 ESEROs, and other national organisers. The project, aimed at secondary school students, mainly addresses curricular subjects such as technology, physics, and programming. By offering the practical experience of working on a small-scale space project, CanSat makes use of these subjects in an interdisciplinary manner and promotes collaboration and teamwork. Competitions are run at national, and even regional level. Each year, the national winning teams are invited to a dedicated event at ESA-ESTEC.