The competition concludes with a ceremonial closing event on 13 March 2026, when the winning team is announced.

The 12th German CanSat Competition is coordinated by NextGen Space Education gUG on behalf of ESERO Germany and implemented with national and regional project partners.

OHB Bremen is one of the sponsors supporting the German CanSat Competition.

Teams recover their CanSats after landing, secure the recorded data, analyze the results, and prepare final presentations.

The German CanSat Competition is implemented with partner institutions including ArianeGroup, Bevuta IT, CGI Space, DSI Aerospace, the Innovationsplattform ECOMAT, the Institute of Aerospace Technology (IAT) at Hochschule Bremen, Space Rocket Technology, the Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) at the University of Bremen, and the Geographical Institute of Ruhr-University Bochum.

Each team developed an individual secondary mission that includes scientific or technical questions such as environmental and climate measurements, autonomous navigation concepts, or technical experiments.

The highlight of the start campaign is a rocket launch on 11 March 2026 from the Rotenburg (Wümme) airfield.

Model rockets at the Rotenburg (Wümme) launch will reach approximately 700 meters in altitude before ejecting the CanSats.

Ten selected school teams from across Germany will meet in Bremen from 9 to 13 March 2026 for the start campaign of the 12th German CanSat Competition.

Participating teams were responsible for their projects end-to-end, including mission concept, construction, programming, testing, and financial planning.

CanSats in the competition have the size of a beverage can.

Each CanSat must conduct a mandatory primary mission to measure air pressure and temperature during flight.

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is a co-organizer of the 12th German CanSat Competition.

Minisatellites are inspected for compliance with all guidelines such as dimensions and weight before being cleared for launch.

On the second day of the competition, teams present their missions, technical objectives, and scientific goals to the CanSat Competition jury.

After ejection, CanSats deploy parachutes and record continuous measurement data during their descent.

Astroscale France entered a partnership with Exotrail in January 2026 to develop sovereign European deorbiting capabilities.

Electrodynamic tethers represent a departure from traditional chemical propulsion for spacecraft maneuvering and deorbiting.

The ECO-Tethers initiative responds to increasing congestion in Low Earth Orbit.

The ECO-Tethers project is a 12-month system study led by PERSEI Space as prime contractor.

Astroscale France is participating in the ECO-Tethers project under the European Space Agency’s FIRST! program.

The ECO-Tethers consortium includes PERSEI Space for tether technology expertise, Thales Alenia Space Italy for system integration, and Astroscale France for operational rendezvous and proximity operations experience.

The ECO-Tethers study aims to validate electrodynamic tether-based solutions as a propellant-free alternative for satellite deorbiting and in-orbit mobility.

ESA’s Zero Debris Charter mandates that satellites launched after 2030 must have a reliable, high-probability deorbiting plan.

Astroscale France contributed operational rendezvous and proximity operations experience to the ECO-Tethers project.

The ECO-Tethers system study is scheduled to conclude in early 2027.

Electrodynamic tethers leverage the Earth’s natural space environment to generate force.

The RFA ONE second stage came from a test site at Esrange, Sweden where Rocket Factory Augsburg performed a hot-fire test of its single engine.

Rocket Factory Augsburg is one of several European firms developing small launch vehicles and aiming to reach orbit next year.

Integration and additional testing of the RFA ONE vehicle are planned at SaxaVord before the proposed summer launch.

The RFA ONE first stage is at SaxaVord but its nine Helix engines are not yet at the spaceport.

On March 6, the first and second stages of Rocket Factory Augsburg’s RFA ONE arrived at the SaxaVord spaceport in Scotland.

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) is a German company and a competitor of the Spanish company PLD Space.

Isar Aerospace attempted an orbital launch of its Spectrum rocket in March and the rocket failed and crashed near its launch pad at Andøya, Norway shortly after liftoff.

RFA’s planned testing at SaxaVord is expected to include hot-fire tests of the first stage on the launch pad once the engines are installed.

Isar Aerospace plans a second launch attempt for March 19.

In August 2024, another RFA ONE first stage was destroyed in a fire during similar testing.

Stefan Brieschenk is the director of development at Rocket Factory Augsburg.

The nine Helix engines are undergoing final acceptance testing in Sweden and will be sent to SaxaVord once testing is completed.

Rocket Factory Augsburg determined that one engine experienced a very unusual anomaly that caused a fire which propagated to the other engines during the August 2024 test incident.

RFA shipped the RFA ONE first stage directly from its factory in Augsburg, Germany to the SaxaVord spaceport.

BlackSky’s scalable and cost-effective AI tools enable more frequent data-intensive broad area search and discovery queries than traditional solutions.

BlackSky added advanced, very high-resolution Gen-3 satellites to its constellation.

Performance on the Luno A contract contributes to the development of novel products, data, and services that employ AI to manage massive data volumes and enhance predictive analytical capabilities.

BlackSky’s Gen-3 satellites provide U.S. customers with more rapid, detailed, and precise insights at machine speed and scale.

BlackSky performs AI-enabled object and pattern-of-life change detection to monitor trends and anomalies in vehicle, aircraft, vessel, railcar, and ground equipment activity at military and economic facilities worldwide, including ports, airfields, military installations, and railways.

BlackSky monitors more than 14 million square kilometers of the Earth’s surface for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency renewed funding for a four-year, seven-figure award under BlackSky’s Luno A Facility Monitoring Delivery Order.

BlackSky secured a seven-figure award under the company’s NGA Luno A Facility Monitoring Delivery Order.

Since being selected for the Luno A program, BlackSky has won multiple delivery orders, including orders for automated general change detection caused by human activity.