Young people competed in building and launching CanSats in Vaasa
Participants of the CanSat 2022 Finland’s national competition in Vaasa. Photo: Jan Holmgård.
ESERO’s first national CanSat competition in Finland was held in Vaasa this week. KvarkenSpaceCenter was a co-organizer of the competition.
The European Space Education Resource Office, ESERO, is a space-training program coordinated by the European Space Agency (ESA). ESERO project is ESA’s main way of supporting the primary and secondary education community in Europe by using the space context to make the teaching and learning of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects more attractive and accessible.
What is a CanSat competition?
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 launched to an altitude of a few hundred meters by a rocket. The satellite’s mission is to carry out a scientific experiment and achieve a safe landing. After this mission, the teams analyze the data obtained during the experiment
Maja Widen and her team from Partille gymnasium (Göteborg, Sweden) ready to launch their satellite. Photo: Jan Holmgård.
This week’s competition was the first ever CanSat competition in Finland. The teams of high school students from Finland, Sweden and Estonia worked with their satellites and data-analysis in Technobothnia Research and Development Laboratory on Vaasa Campus. The rockets with the teams’ satellites were launched in Söderfjärden, a large stretch of field made by a meteorite about 560 million years ago.
Data-analysis going on at the Technobothnia Research and Development Laboratory. Photo: Johanna Haveri.
Long days and new friends
The CanSt competition started on Sunday April 3rd and continued until Wednesday April 6th.
In addition to satellite construction and launch, as well as data analysis, the teams presented their progress to the jury on several occasions. There was also some additional program, and the days were long.
The long days did not bother the participants because they learned a lot during the competition. It was also nice to meet new people of the same age who were interested in same things.
The winner of the national competition was the team from Kokkolan suomalainen lukio (Kokkola Finnish High School). Team members from left: Eemeli Nissilä, Zhibo Yang, Jaakko Kaasinen, Fanny Rovio and Elsa Rekilä. Photo: Johanna Haveri.
The jury of the competition was also very busy when judging the teams according to a wide criterion.
The winner of the Finnish national competition was Kokkola’s Finnish high school. They were granted a place in the European CanSat Competition that will be held in June.
The Kvarken Space Center team congratulates the winners and wishes them good luck in the European competition.
Thank you ESERO Finland for arranging the competition in Vaasa. We will be happy to help you also in the coming competitions. This is an excellent way to increase awareness of possibilities given by the new space.