The Finnish CanSat competition guidelines

Building your CanSat

Under the supervision of their teacher/mentor, all the teams participating in CanSat will have to carry out technical work on their CanSats, applying the procedures used in the typical lifecycle of a real space project, which are:

  • Selection of mission objectives;

  • Definition of technical requirements necessary to achieve these objectives;

  • Design of hardware and software;

  • Reporting;

  • Design of ground station/ground telecommunication system;

  • Integration and testing of the CanSat before the national launch campaign

CanSat requirements

  • All the components of the CanSat must fit inside a standard soft drinks can (115±1 mm height and 66±1 mm diameter), with the exception of the parachute. Radio antennas and GPS antennas can be mounted externally on the top or bottom of the can, depending on the design, but not on the on the sides.

  • The antennas, transducers and other elements of the CanSat cannot extend beyond the can’s diameter until it has left the launch vehicle.

  • The mass of the CanSat must be between a minimum of 300 grams and a maximum of 350 grams. CanSats that are lighter must take additional ballast with them to reach the 300 grams minimum mass limit required.

  • Explosives, detonators, pyrotechnics, and inflammable or dangerous materials are strictly forbidden. All materials used must be safe for the personnel, the equipment, and the environment. In case of doubt by ESA, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) may be requested from the teams.

  • The CanSat must be powered by a battery and/or solar panels. It must be possible for the systems to remain switched on for two continuous hours.

  • The battery must be easily accessible in case it has to be replaced/recharged.

  • The CanSat must have an easily accessible master power switch.

  • Inclusion of a positioning system for retrieval (beeper, radio beacon, GPS, etc.) is recommended.

  • The CanSat should have a recovery system, such as a parachute, capable of being reused after launch. It is recommended to use bright coloured fabric, which will facilitate recovery of the CanSat after landing.

  • The parachute connection must be able to withstand up to 50 N of force. The strength of the parachute must be tested to ensure that the system will operate nominally.

  • For recovery reasons, a maximum flight time of 120 seconds is recommended. If attempting a directed landing, then a maximum of 170 seconds flight time is recommended.

  • A descent rate between 8 and 11 m/s is recommended for recovery reasons. However, the CanSat’s descent speed must not be lower than 5 m/s or higher than 12 m/s for safety reasons. Additionally, the airfield or weather conditions might determine additional mandatory restrictions on the velocity.

  • The CanSat must be able to withstand an acceleration of up to 20 g.

  • The total budget of the final CanSat model should not exceed 500€. Ground Stations (GS) and any related non-flying item will not be considered in the budget. More information regarding the penalties in case the teams exceed the stated budget can be found in the next section. In the case of sponsorship, all sponsored items should be specified in the budget with the actual corresponding costs on the market.

  • The assigned frequency must be respected by all teams in the Finnish CanSat competition. For example, all amateur radio frequencies are allowed. It is recommended that teams pay attention to the design of the CanSat in terms of hardware integration and interconnection, so the radio frequency can be easily modified if necessary.

  • The CanSat must be flight-ready upon arrival at the launch campaign.

The Pre-Launch Report for the selected teams

All teams participating in the Finnish CanSat competition will need to submit the Pre-Launch Report (PLR). This document is a maximum 15-page document, including cover and/or appendices, that summaries the project. This will be the main document provided to the Jury members before the Finnish CanSat competition, who will then be tasked with evaluating the quality of the report, as well as the work and performance of each team.

The PLR must be submitted to ESERO Finland, written in English in Verdana font, size 11 via emailing esero.finland@heureka.fi. We strongly recommend English-proofing the document before sending it.

If a team submits a PLR that exceeds the 15-page limit, ESERO Finland will request that the team re-submits the report to be within this limit, or else will disqualify the report from being judged.

Evaluation and scoring

1. The jury

The Jury, appointed by ESERO Finland, will be comprised of CanSat experts, education experts, or engineers and scientists who will evaluate the teams’ performances during the Finnish CanSat Competition, considering the CanSat Pre-launch Report. The jury members will score the teams during the launch campaign and announce the results from their scoring in the Closing Ceremony.

The jury will typically have 4-6 members, and their fields of expertise can vary from science to engineering or education. The jury board is usually comprised of:

  • Space science/engineering expert(s)

  • IT/Electronics expert(s)

  • Education expert(s)

  • Radio communication expert(s)

2. Scoring

Performance in the following areas will be evaluated:

A. Technical achievement

The Jury will consider how the teams obtained the results, how reliable and robust the CanSat was, and how the CanSat performed. Innovative aspects of the project will be judged (e.g. the tools selected and the hardware/software used).

The aspects evaluated will be:

  • Mission’s technical complexity: The CanSat’s technical level, understanding of the technical concepts and the originality of the engineering aspects of the mission.

  • Performance of the Primary mission: The CanSat’s technical performance in terms of deployment and data collection for the Primary Mission.

  • Performance of the Secondary mission: The CanSat’s technical performance in terms of deployment and data collection for the Secondary Mission.

B. Scientific value

The scientific value of the teams’ missions and the teams’ scientific skills will be evaluated. This includes the scientific relevance of the mission, the quality of the technical reporting (both written and oral) and the team’s scientific understanding that will be assessed from the team’s ability to analyse and interpret results appropriately.

The aspects evaluated will be:

  • Scientific interest: Whether the scientific objectives are of value to the scientific community.

  • Scientific adequacy: Whether measurements are done with a clear and well- founded scientific purpose, and if the data collection is appropriate for reaching the objective.

  • Scientific understanding: Level of understanding of the scientific principles that underlie the project.

C. Professional competencies

The Jury will assess the team’s collaboration and coordination, adaptability, and communication skills.

The aspects evaluated will be:

  • Teamwork: Collaborative effort of the team in order to complete the tasks in the most effective and efficient way.

  • Adaptability: Attitude towards continual improvement and ability to adapt to new conditions, both from the national competition towards the European Competition (if applicable) and/or as far as ideas for improvement after the European Competition are concerned.

  • Communication: Oral presentation skills, the ability to provide a captivating presentation involving confident speaking skills and a visually appealing presentation.

  • Technical reporting: Ability to summarise with clarity and provide a readable and complete Pre-Launch report, the proper labelling of the graphs and use of the correct units and the ability to present scientifically sound data and interpretations.

D. Outreach

The team will be awarded points on how the project is communicated to the school and the local community, considering web pages, blogs, presentations, promotional material, media coverage etc.

Marking scheme

The overall balance between the items to be evaluated is as follows:

  • Technical achievement 35%

  • Scientific value 30%

  • Professional competencies 25%

  • Outreach 10%

    • TOTAL 100%

Penalties: Teams’ final scores will be penalised with 1% per day of late submission of the CanSat Pre-Launch Report. Similarly, 1% of the final score will be subtracted per 10 euros extra spent over the maximum CanSat budget of 500 euros.