From Elsenborn to the ESA: Brussels school pupils win CanSat Belgium 2025

The winners of the 2025 edition of CanSat Belgium have now been announced. The team from the European School Brussels 4 (Laeken) has not only won the Brussels selection round with its project “Make YT”, but also the national title. The team will represent Belgium at the ESA workshop in June.

The final of the competition took place at the Elsenborn military site and brought together some thirty teams from across Belgium. This initiative, funded by Innoviris, the SPW EER and VLAIO, invites pupils in the 5th and 6th years of secondary school each year to design, build and launch a mini-satellite (Sat) the size of a tin can (Can).

During the launches, reaching an altitude of around one kilometre, the CanSats carry out a mandatory mission: collecting and transmitting atmospheric data such as temperature, pressure and altitude in real time, before landing safely thanks to a parachute designed by the teams.

In addition to the national winner, regional prizes were also awarded. In Wallonia, victory went to the team from the Institut Saint-Michel in Gosselies with their project “R-Force”. In Flanders, Don Bosco College in Haacht was awarded the prize for their CanSat “Sky Bytes”.

After months of preparation and an exciting final, CanSat Belgium concludes a successful edition that immerses young people in the world of science, technology and exploration.

Every year, this science competition is organised in collaboration with the Walloon Region (SPW EER), the Flemish Region (Vlaio) and the Brussels-Capital Region (Innoviris), as part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) programme. The initiative promotes STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) among young people, with a practical application of science and technology in the space sector, where collaboration and inventiveness help determine the success of their project. 

You can find more information here about the competition organised by the ESA.