High school students impressed with their satellite missions

High school teams from across Slovakia once again designed innovative satellite missions and demonstrated exceptional technical talent.

Malé Bielice, May 7, 2025 – The industrial branch of the Slovak Space Office (SARIO) organized the finals of the second Cansat Slovakia competition at the airport in Malé Bielice, offering young people a unique opportunity to design, construct, and launch their own satellite the size of a can – the so-called "cansat." Eleven of the best teams from secondary schools qualified for the national finals, having emerged from regional semifinals held in Bratislava, Žilina, and Košice. A total of twenty-four teams from across Slovakia took part in the 2025 competition, representing an increase of roughly fifty percent compared to last year.

Each satellite was launched to an altitude of 1000 meters using drones, made possible through cooperation with Straton Technologies, the Department of Air Transport at the University of Žilina, and the Partizánske Aeroclub. In total, eleven flights were successfully completed with a 100% success rate.

The jury especially focused on the technical sophistication, innovation, and quality of the presentations. First place was awarded to the team Cans 'N' Roses from the Angela Merici Gymnasium in Trnava, whose mission included capturing aerial images, detecting roads using machine learning, and displaying data on an interactive website in real time. Second place went to the Zochova Team 3 from the Secondary School of Electrical Engineering in Bratislava, whose cansat was equipped with localization and motion sensors, a 2K camera, data recording, and a modular system for future upgrades. Third place was awarded to the team Artemis from the Technical Secondary School in Rožňava, which focused on measuring concentrations of volatile organic compounds (TVOC), tracking the satellite using GPS, and automatic antenna alignment with real-time data transmission via the internet and YouTube.

The panel of judges at the Cansat competition final included distinguished figures from the Slovak and European space ecosystem: Ivan Bella, Slovakia’s first astronaut, Cristian D. Stratinsky from CTRL s.r.o., Robert Lászlo from Needronix, Nicole Majska from the Slovak Centre of Scientific and Technical Information (CVTI SR) and WIA-Europe Slovakia, Matúš Toderiška from the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities (SOSA), and Michal Brichta from the Slovak Space Office.

The winning team will take part in the final international Cansat meeting organized by the European Space Agency (ESA). All teams also received valuable prizes from the competition’s partners – M2M Solutions, Slovenské elektrárne, and CTRL s.r.o.

The event was held with significant support from its partners. Material prizes were donated by M2M Solutions, Slovenské elektrárne, and CTRL s.r.o. The organization of the semifinal rounds and expert preparation of the teams was managed by professionals from several institutions: Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions Slovakia, the Technical University of Košice, GlobalLogic, KAJO Services, Global Singularity, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at STU in Bratislava, and others.

The Cansat competition serves as a platform to connect schools with the industry, universities, and the professional community. The project combines school knowledge with practical skills, motivates students to pursue technical fields, and opens the door to the world of innovation, science, and the knowledge economy. Mentors, jurors, and partners contribute their experience to improving project quality and show students what work in the space sector looks like in practice. The interest from schools, the growing number of participants, and the quality of the submitted projects clearly confirm that Slovakia has the potential to build a strong generation of young space experts. The Cansat competition is becoming a launchpad for young people who want to change the world and may one day send their own technologies into space.