CanSat was organized for the fifth time in Finland and this time there were a record 15 teams. There were new schools and old veterans. Kokkola Finnish High School was participating for the fifth time. In CanSat, teams have to build a satellite the size of a can. In this project, students learn coding, electronics, performance, media and working on a project.

Before this weekend, the students had easily spent two hundred hours of their own time on the CanSat project. This weekend was the culmination of the students' hard work. The CanSat competition was organized by ESERO Finland, the Science Center Heureka and the Finnish Space Research Society (SATS) acted as the launch operator.

The program of the event was as follows:

Wednesday was a travel day

We drove (SATS) from Helsinki to Vaasa and stayed at the hotel. We were still refining the program for the coming days. We had a meeting in the hotel sauna every day. It was a good place to plan. We were a team of 9 helping with the CanSat competition.

Thursday was the day to finish the satellites

We did technical checks on the satellites of the CanSat teams. The satellites must withstand a take-off acceleration of over 20 G and must remain intact even when they parachute to the ground, and the data connection must not be interrupted. The teams received the rockets we made, which were then decorated in different ways. We walked around and watched the teams in action.

Friday was the first launch day

We went to Söderfjärden in the morning to prepare for the launches. We installed 1 launch tower, tested the launch systems and prepared the packing room. We were ready to receive the first teams. The satellites were packed into the rockets in Meteoria, after which the teams walked 500 meters to the launch site. At the launch site, the rocket engine was installed on the rocket, the rocket was pushed into the launch tower and lastly the igniter was placed inside the rocket engine. One of the team launched the rocket into the sky.

Friday's launches went well. We launched a total of 14 CanSats into the sky, at best we launched a rocket every 15 minutes. Our main engine was an H-class engine (Aerotech H219 DMS). The CanSat satellites reached an altitude of 750 meters in about 12 seconds. Between and after the CanSat operations, we launched 4 of our own rockets. One of our own rockets was my Katana rocket, which had a 360 camera on the tip. I will make a video of it at some point.

Saturday was the seconed lauch day

On Saturday we launched another CanSat.One team did not get their satellite ready on Friday, so it was launched on Saturday morning. We launched our own rockets for the rest of the day. In the evening the wind started to get too strong and we dismantled the launch systems.

Sunday was the presentation day

On Sunday, 15 teams presented their results. The young people are skilled performers and their presentations in English were good.

As before, Jan Holmgärd, ESERO Finland, was involved, wrote the following article and took some great photos:

CanSat 2026, Vaasa

https://edugalaxen.com/2026/03/26/march-26-29-cansat-competition-in-vaasa-finland/

Photos

https://www.flickr.com/photos/192360479@N08/albums/72177720332730675

The Finnish Space Research Society's CanSat 2026 team was:

Matti Lepomäki, rocket engines and rocket launch
Mika Järvenpää, rocket engines and rocket launch
Timo Toivanen, security officer
Mika Jalava, field expert and rocket retrieval
Antti Niskanen, field expert and rocket retrieval
Matti Manninen, field expert and drone photography
Vesa Heilala, field expert and satellite packaging on rockets
Joni Virtanen, field expert and satellite packaging on rockets
Sampo Juustila, field expert and satellite packaging on rockets

Finnish Space Research Society

https://www.sats-saff.fi/