Fistral are absolutely delighted to announce that the Scottish CanSat Competition 2012 winners – Team Alpha from Bearsden Academy – have won the European CanSat Competition!! CONGRATULATIONS
As you know, Fistral managed, sponsored and awarded the Fistral Scottish CanSat Trophy in March, and Team Alpha were worthy winners.
The Scottish CanSat Secretary Dr Paul Lyden said
- “I am absolutely delighted! The really solid Scottish approach won the day. All the preparation and processes that Fistral Training put teams through in the Scottish CanSat Competition gave the winning team the edge at the European Final. Scotland won because they had followed a process in the Scottish competition which ensured they had understood the objectives of the mission, had planned the project well, thought about risks and when other teams were running about like headless chickens before the launch, Scotland were calmly playing cards.”
- “The European judging panel were very impressed as were the other teams. It was testament to the Scottish pragmatism in technology and also the excellent project management advice given by our sponsor Fistral Training and Consultancy Ltd. who made sure the teams in the Scottish CanSat competition were well set up in project management techniques.”
The European CanSat Competition 2012
A team of 4 high school students from Glasgow beat teams from 14 other European countries – including England, Spain, France and The Netherlands – to win the European CanSat Final 2012.
The winning European team – Team Alpha – from Bearsden Academy won the Scottish CanSat Competition 2012 sponsored and managed by Fistral Training and Consultancy Ltd. at the end of March; and in addition to the Fistral trophy, they won a guaranteed launch spot at the European CanSat Competition in Norway.
CanSat Disaster Averted
Between winning the Fistral Scottish CanSat Competition and the final, the winning team had 3 weeks to arrange their travel and make final preparations for the European Competition. However, a near disaster was avoided as the cans (provided by Irn Bru) that make the basis of the ‘Can’ Sat, were almost left where they had been ‘safely’ stowed in a school drawer! CanSat complete they were on their way.
Four of the nine students from Team Alpha were selected to represent Scotland, and along with their teacher, had to travel to Norway, launch their CanSat via rocket 1km into the air at Andøya Rocket Range, and conduct their mission experiments, and make presentations to the judging panel.
Scotland are European CanSat Winners 2012
The Scots representatives – Rebecca Mackenzie, Dominic Laing, Matthew Morris, Findlay MacRae and teacher Richard Ford – beat teams from 14 other countries across Europe in an extremely close-run and hard-fought competition. As part of the competition they completed their own Team Alpha blog which tells of their story and winning success.
Other teams were from: England, Spain, Ireland, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Romania and The Netherlands
Team Alpha (Bearsden Academy) comprised members as follows: Dominic Laing, Ryan Mitchell, Caitlin Chalmers, Peter Meadows, Rebecca MacKenzie, Matthew Morris, Drew Cowan, Findlay MacRae and Grant McConnachie and their teacher is Richard Ford.
See our blogs for info on the Scottish Final at ROE, Launch Day at Strathaven Airfield, ClydeSpace visit, Training Day and comments from MSP Mike Russell, the STEMNET Ambassador Programme, Irn Bru’s support of the Scottish competition and therein links to images etc.
It provides a full overview of the Scottish teams’ journey to become European winners… and did I say Congratulations… Well done Bearsden Academy!!