For the first time ever, the Swedish final of the student competition CanSat Sweden was held at Esrange Space Center. Three teams of high school students participated, each competing with their self-built satellite the size of a soda can. The winning team was Stella Navis from Gothenburg.
The purpose of the CanSat competition is to spark interest in STEM subjects. It is organized by Astronomisk Ungdom with support from ESERO Sweden, which is funded by the Swedish National Space Agency. The event is part of a larger European initiative, and the winners from each national final are awarded a trip to the European Space Agency (ESA) to become a “Space Engineer for a Day” alongside other national champions.
“Finally, CanSat Sweden was at Esrange! We successfully dropped the three CanSats: Stella Navis (objective: cartography), Team Berzelius (objective: ozone sounding), and NerdHerd (objective: fire detection) on Friday, May 9th at the Balloon Pad. The teams prepared their CanSats on Thursday evening and Friday morning until the Flight Readiness Review,” said Armelle Frenea-Schmidt, Business Development Director at SSC and a member of the CanSat jury.
The three payloads were lifted to an altitude of 150 meters using a helium-filled balloon. A system developed by SSC, called ETAG, triggered the release. The satellites descended smoothly through the atmosphere and landed gently on the balloon field with the help of parachutes. All satellites had onboard data storage, and two of them were also able to transmit live telemetry data to the students’ ground stations for later analysis.
“On Saturday, the teams presented their results to a jury composed of representatives from SNSA, SAAB, and SSC. The winner was selected based on ESA CanSat criteria: mission accomplishment, design and integration quality, data analysis, error analysis, suggestions for improvement, and teamwork. And the winner is: Stella Navis from Gothenburg!” said Frenea-Schmidt.
This was the first time a CanSat event was held at Esrange, and it proved to be a great success. The competition also fostered increased collaboration with Astronomisk Ungdom, ESA, SNSA, and Andøya Space Education. There are hopes for more such events in the future.
“After this successful day, we are now aiming to create a Nordic CanSat competition. Moreover, it was a great opportunity for training our staff. Huge thanks to the Launch Team and Instrumentation, who creatively adapted weather balloon techniques to enable CanSat drops. They’ve truly introduced a new activity using standard equipment! Let’s make this first CanSat event at Esrange just the beginning,” Frenea-Schmidt concluded.
