Seven Madrid students, participating in the seventh edition of the European Cansat Competition, kick off the seventh month of the year with the best possible news.

The GMV-sponsored team La Burgoneta Espacial, made up by seven pupils from the high school IES EL Burgo de las Rozas, won first prize in the European Cansat Competition with their can-sized satellite. Another 14 teams from various European countries vied for the podium, the Irish team Canny Potter eventually coming second and the Polish team CANpernicus third.

Following the national knock-out rounds held in different countries back in April, the grand final of the seventh CanSat competition was held in Bremen University’s Center of applied Space Technology and Microgravity (Zentrum für angewandte Raumfahrt­technologie und Mikro­gravitation: ZARM). The venue was Rotenberg airfield, where more than one hundred participants turned up to launch their can-sized satellites.

The prototype satellites, deployed in sets of 3, were launched by a rocket to a height of 750 meters and released in a parachute-controlled fall. This is where the soda-can-sized satellite came into its own.

The Spanish teams set of missions was threefold: finding a planet that could sustain human life (measuring UV radiation and CO2), obtaining information from the topographic survey to choose the right landing spot for future missions, and broadcasting live mission information to the general public.

La Burgoneta Espacial won first prize in ESA’s "Cansats in Europe 2017" competition, on the strength not only of their successful performance of each part of the mission but also their project’s technical, scientific and educational value and their excellent teamwork under their tutor and mentor Francisco Viñas.

Way to go champs!!!

Click here if you want to relive the thrilling experience.