CONAE selects 20 Argentine student teams for CANSAT satellite competition

The National Commission for Space Activities (CONAE) has selected 20 secondary school teams to advance to the construction and validation stage of the CANSAT Argentina 2026 competition. The initiative, executed by the Asociación de Cohetería Experimental y Modelista de Argentina (ACEMA), aims to provide students with hands-on experience in the various stages of a space mission.

The competition originally drew 1,251 students organized into 253 teams from 21 jurisdictions across Argentina. The participating groups represent educational institutions from Córdoba, Chubut, Buenos Aires, Tucumán, Formosa, Mendoza, and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Notably, students from the Instituto Técnico de Aguilares in Tucumán are participating with the KonSat project.

Participants must design, build, and test small-scale satellites, known as CANSATs, which are roughly the size of a can. The primary mission involves the transmission and reception of flight data via telemetry, though teams may include secondary missions such as image or video capture. Five winning teams will be awarded the opportunity to launch their satellites from the CONAE space center in Córdoba.