Coláiste Muire, Ennis, wins regional heat of CanSat space competition in GMIT

Teams of transition year students from across Galway, Mayo and Clare have designed, built and launched mini-satellites made in the shape of soft drink cans at the regional  CEIA and ESERO (European Space Education Resource Office) Ireland CanSat Final which took place in GMIT on Friday last (31 March).

Team NASARR from Coláiste Muire, Ennis, Co Clare, were announced as the overall winning team at the 2017 CanSat Regional  Final and will now go on to compete in the National final which takes place in Portlaoise from the 27 to 28 April 2017. 

A CanSat is a simulation of a real satellite in the size and shape volume of a soft drink can and is a European Space Agency initiative designed to inspire young people to pursue a career in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, with the ultimate goal of ensuring the availability of a highly qualified workforce in the space industry of the future.

Teams from Galway Community College, Merlin College, Claren College, Colaiste Muire, Mount Saint Michael, and Dunmore Community School competed for a place at the regional final.

Organisers of the GMIT regional final, School of Engineering lecturers Emer Cahill and Denis O’Mahony, said there was great enthusiasm and excitement from school students during the final: “Each team had to fit all the major subsystems found in a satellite to their CanSat including power, sensors and communications, and provide a parachute to ensure the can had a gentle landing.”

“The teams were helped with their projects by industry mentors from local companies Cisco, Valeo, Intel, Fort Clever Software and Fraser Ross. We are also grateful to our local sponsor Hormer APG of Cork.

Stephanie O’Neill, ESERO Ireland Manager, Science Foundation Ireland Discover, says: “ “I would like to congratulate Team NASARR on their achievement, but I would also like to acknowledge the hard-work and dedication shown by our other finalists – each team did a fantastic job, the quality of the work this year was incredible.”

“I would like to thank the individual team mentors who worked tirelessly with the teams in the run up to the final, and I would also like to thank our judge from Intel, Peter Waldron and Eamon Connelly from CEIA.” she added.

There are six regional partners including Cork Institute of Technology, Dublin Institute of Technology, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Limerick Institute of Technology, Sligo Institute of Technology and Athlone Institute of Technology.

The competition is a joint collaboration between ESERO Ireland and the CEIA and is co-funded by the European Space Agency and Science Foundation Ireland Discover, the education and outreach programme managed by Science Foundation Ireland.

For details on all GMIT Engineering programmes, see: https://www.gmit.ie/engineering/school-engineering