The 14 teams selected to participate in the 2012 CanSat Competition are making their final preparations to travel to the Andøya Rocket Range in Norway for the April launch campaign.

This competition is organised by the European Space Agency (ESA), in collaboration with the Norwegian Centre for Space-related Education (NAROM).

A teachers’ introductory workshop took place at ESA-ESTEC on 2-3 December 2011, to ensure that all teams have the necessary equipment and expertise to proceed with their CanSat project.

Between December 2011 and March 2012, the selected teams carried out technical work on their CanSats, including design, development and testing activities. Guidelines, templates and expert advice were available throughout this phase.

The highlight is the competition launch campaign, held on 22 - 27 April at Andøya Rocket Range in Norway, where each CanSat will be launched in a rocket up to an altitude of 1 km. The CanSats will then separate from the rocket, conduct their missions, and land safely on the ground to be recovered by the teams.

The competition winners will be chosen based on the team’s performance throughout the project, as well as the final flight operations and results.