A team S6 pupils has excelled in the CanSat science competition, organised by the European Space Agency (ESA). Under the guidance of their teacher, Mr Olivier Clémence, our pupils designed a mini-satellite that was sent… into space! They have summarised their journey in this article.
As the school management team, we are very proud of them and would like to thank Mr Clémence for his dedication to the science department, which enables our pupils to enjoy all these wonderful experiences!
CanSat is a science competition organised by the European Space Agency (ESA). In this competition, each team designs, programmes and builds a mini-satellite the size of a soda can, hence the name CanSat.
© European Space Agency – CanSat, Space Engineer for a Day
This satellite is launched to an altitude of approximately 1,600 metres by a rocket and must successfully carry out various measurements in order to conduct two scientific experiments.
The primary mission is common to all teams and involves measuring pressure and temperature during the CanSat’s flight.
Our team stood out thanks to our secondary mission, which consist of measuring mass in microgravity using our instrument, STUWART. This project is particularly interesting because similar procedures are used by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). We had to optimise all our components so that they could fit inside our CanSat.
Our school took part in this competition for the first time this year.
The team consisted of six S6 FR pupils: Tudor, Elyette, Klara, Alexandre, Martin and Yago. Our CanSat adventure began in October 2026. Some of us are members of Mr Clémence’s Science Club. It was he who told us about this competition, which immediately sparked our interest. Our name – MAKEYT – is made up of our initials and our motto, MAKE IT, which reflects our determination to see our project through to a successful conclusion.
Over the following months, everyone was assigned specific tasks: programming, structural design, parachute design, testing, communications…
The project gradually took shape, punctuated by meetings with the CanSat experts who monitored our progress and selected the teams that would continue the adventure.
The quarter-finals took place in January. Each team had to submit a detailed report of around twenty pages explaining their progress.
The semi-finals took place in March. We were interviewed by the school’s radio, Radio Europa Laeken, and we regularly share our progress via our Instagram account, eeb4_cansat.
The final took place from 23 to 25 April. On the first day, we travelled to the Elsenborn military base and carried out the final checks on our satellite before launching it the following day using a rocket, after an extraordinary night in the base’s dormitories. Our launch went well and we managed to collect data and recover our satellite intact and ready for another mission.
On the final day, each team presented their work and findings in a final report to a judging panel in Spa, Belgium. The jury was particularly impressed by the significant scientific value, as well as the complexity, high technical precision and originality of our secondary mission, which withstood the rigours of launch perfectly.
We are immensely proud and honoured to have achieved a double victory: first place in the Brussels regional final and the title of CanSat Belgium National Champions! It is a real honour, given that the final of this competition brings together the best teams from across Belgium. After the closing ceremony, we returned to Brussels.
The adventure didn’t end there! As national champions, we had the chance to represent Belgium at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre – ESTEC – in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, during the ‘Space Engineer for a Day’ event, which gave us the opportunity to meet and chat with some very interesting people from ESA as well as the other national winners. We attended some fascinating talks and presented our project during a session dedicated to poster presentations, which had to be produced to a professional standard.
We are very proud of what we have achieved and have learnt so many useful things for the future, including how to work as a team on a practical project, develop skills in physics, programming and engineering, and discover careers in the space and research fields – all of which are in line with the objectives of the CanSat competition. We sincerely hope that this will inspire future generations, as these are truly valuable and unforgettable experiences that attract the attention of universities and open up many doors.
Many thanks to CanSat Belgium and all the organisers who made this competition possible. Thank you to ESA for providing this learning opportunity and to ESTEC for its hospitality. A big thank you also to our school for enabling us to take part in this sort of competition and, above all, thank you to Mr Clémence, our mentor, who has helped and guided us so much throughout the year, not forgetting Mr Guelluy, who accompanied us during the final and the trip to ESTEC.
Our poster, presented during the CanSat Space Engineer for a Day event.
