IT was mission accomplished for Rizal National Science High School, as it bested 14 other schools to win in the second Can Satellite (CanSat) Competition at the 2016 World Space Week (WSW) celebration held recently in Los Baños, Laguna.
The team—composed of Josh Rael Jorquia, Matthew Lemuel Rey, Marla Ena Rosales and their coach, Marlon Santa Catalina—designed their CanSat to gather barometric pressure, temperature and global positioning system as its primary mission.
They added sensors to gather humidity and light intensity, and a camera to capture images as part of its secondary mission. With a successful launch and data transmission from the CanSat to their ground station, Rizal NSHS made an effective analysis of their data to emerge on top.
The victory earned them a P10,000 cash prize and a trophy.
Benigno Aquino High School placed second, followed by Marcelo H. del Pilar High School. They received P7,000 and P5,000 cash prizes, respectively, along with trophies.
The number of participants this year increased to 15, up from 10 in the inaugural contest held last year. Grace Christian College won in the first-ever competition. Science Education Institute (SEI) Director Josette Biyo said the event marked an improvement from last year’s version in terms of materials used, with Intel Philippines sponsoring Edison microcontroller boards as primary platform for the CanSat development.
“The sponsorship eased the process of learning, and the participants really got creative and imaginative with their missions. This helped our cause of making them develop a deep interest in space science, as well as engineering skills that can be their stepping stone in picking up a science and technology course in college,” Biyo said.
Likewise, Dr. Rogel Mari Sese, focal person of the Philippine Space Science Education Program and program leader of the National Space Development Program, both of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), acknowledged the competition has improved and was positive because of the competition’s continuous growth as an education platform. “The competition has certainly grown but we can still enhance it to make it more challenging and reflective of the actual satellite development process,” Sese said.
Biyo noted that the CanSat competition would be one of the side activities along with the Water Rocket Event at the 23rd Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-23), which will be hosted by the Philippines for the first time. The top two teams, Rizal NSHS and Benigno Aquino HS, will represent the country in the event.
“This WSW celebration served as a great dry run for us in hosting of the APRSAF-23,” she said.Meanwhile, Sampaguita Village National High School headlined the top 3 winning teams of the National Water Rocket Launching Competition. Other winners are the Unson National High School and Tuntungin Putho National High School. All three schools will represent the country in the APRSAF-23.
Another highlight of the celebration was the On-the-Spot Poster-Making Contest participated in by 20 elementary pupils.
Mark Samuel Subingco from Bayog Elementary School emerged the winner with his piece on “My Dream Planet.” Finishing second and third were Lovely Esther Magtanob from Mayondon Elementary School, and Jasmene Cathe Catedrilla from Lalakay Elementary School, respectively. Their entries will also compete in the APRSAF-23.
