On Saturday, 6th May 2023, the Elementary Launch of CanSat Ghana commenced at the KNUST’s Engineering Department. CanSat Ghana is a foundation focused on helping Ghana develop its space sector through building experimental satellites (CanSats). A CanSat is a simulation of a real satellite, integrated within the volume and shape of a soft drinks can.
The Office for Astronomy Development (OAD) has funded the 2023 Cansat campaign through its call for proposals, under the special theme of “Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development”. With support from Xavier Space Solutions and Erictronics, Cansat Ghana will run the first-ever experimental satellite design and build campaign for Senior High Schools in Ghana.
The challenge for the students is to fit all the major subsystems found in a satellite, such as power, sensors and a communication system, into this minimal volume in a Cansat. The participating student teams will experience all the phases of a real space project, from selecting the mission objectives, designing their CanSat, integrating the components, testing the system, preparing for launch, and analyzing the scientific data obtained. The challenge aims to use Space technology and techniques to address the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ghana CanSat/Rocketry Championship (GCRC) is a competition set-up by the Committee for Space Programme Development (CSPD) and under the World CanSat/Rocketry Championship (WCRC), an organization in Serbia with collaboration in Europe, Africa among others. The WCRC is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations (as university student Teams or as independent student Teams), and winning this event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in this field. The challenge for the students is to fit all the major subsystems found in a satellite, such as power, sensors, and a communication system.
It was established by Xavier Space Solutions, a Ghanaian Space start-up company in 2020. Cansat Ghana works with Erictronics (a local electronics company) as a partner to help develop experimental satellite kits for students in Ghana and all across Africa. In the last two years, they have reached 200+ students in Ghana with the goal of helping students to build and learn about experimental satellites while going through the complete process of an actual Space mission.
The mission is to train the students on how to develop a miniature satellite. Students will be taught things like coding, electronics, space science, physics, mathematics, and all this. This is part of a movement to promote STEM in our country.