Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1165935
COMMERCIAL 20 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 SEPTEMBER 2019 AS winners of the CanSat Malta Competition organised by the Malta Council for Sci- ence and Technology for the first time last scholastic year, the team MoniCanSat repre- sented Malta in the European CanSat Competition held in Bologna last June. The six- strong secondary school stu- dent team from St Monica School Birkirkara together with their science teacher Sab- rina Camilleri, participated in the competition together with 20 other student teams from around the world. The com- petition was a great venture for the Maltese team - they met students from all over the world, and made the most out of this learning experience as they carried the Maltese flag for the first time within the European CanSat arena. What is a CanSat? A CanSat is a simulation of a satellite that fits in a soft drink can. It incorporates miniature sensors that are representative of the technologies used in real satellites. The challenge for the student teams is to fit all the major subsystems found in a satellite, such as power, sen- sors and a communication sys- tem, into this minimal volume. The CanSat is then launched to a prescribed altitude by a rocket and when ejected starts transmitting mission data as it descends back to the ground under parachute. Teams of students then point custom- built antennas to their respec- tive CanSats and receive sen- sor data in real-time. What happened at the European CanSat Competition 2019? The European CanSat Com- petition is a yearly Europe- an-wide competition, organ- ised by the European Space Agency's Education office, is a hands-on space education ac- tivity for students in secondary and post-secondary schools. At the start of the competition that is recognised as one of the flagship activities of ESA's ed- ucation programme, ESA per- sonnel invited each team to de- liver a pre-launch presentation on their CanSats. All CanSats were subsequently checked by expert personnel to ensure all comply with competition regu- lations. On Wednesday 26th June, a sense of excitement and antici- pation could be felt amongst all teams: the moment to launch their CanSat, a project they had been dedicatedly working on throughout the scholastic year, had finally arrived. The CanSats were inserted into solid-propellent rockets, each 3kg in mass and 1.7m in height, which were launched by a specialised contractor of the European Space Agency (ESA). A total of 10 rockets were launched, each of which eject- ing two CanSats as it reached an altitude of 1km. On ejection, all teams point- ed their home-brew antennas to their descending CanSats and received numerous data in real-time. Such data and information, amongst others, include air temperature and pressure, air quality metrics, shock and vi- bration readings, GPS posi- tioning information and foot- age from miniature-cameras integrated within the CanSats. Following the rocket launch, all teams focused on the analy- sis of acquired data and were then invited to present their results in front of an ESA- appointed jury. Following a somewhat lengthy deliberation process, Germany with their team, 'Perpetuum Mobile' won the best overall CanSat pro- jects. Three other teams were re- warded in specific categories: Poland for the scientific excel- lence, Czech Republic for out- reach, Norway for professional competencies and Spain for the technical achievement. Find out more about the next competition and apply! The CanSat Malta Competi- tion, which is being organised again in the 2019/20 scholas- tic year, continues to inspire students and help them learn STEM subjects in an interac- tive and engaging way. The competition is fully funded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology led by the Ex- ecutive Chairman, Jeffrey Pul- licino through the National Space Fund and supported by the Parliamentary Secretariat for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation, the Hon. Silvio Schembri. The call for applications of the upcom- ing competition is now open to all teachers in secondary and post-secondary Maltese schools. For more information please visit: https://mcst.gov.mt/space- directorate/sep/ Santa Monica School, Birkirkara represented Malta at the European CanSat Competition 2019 in Bologna THE directors of Nectar Lim- ited, a group of companies that represents various internation- ally-renowned food brands, decided to honour the memory of the founder Charles Abela (1952–2010) by transforming his own office into a well- designed memorial room cel- ebrating the various aspects of his life since childhood. While the original features of his office were all retained, elegant showcases now display other significant items related to the setting up and develop- ment of the business, like Ab- ela's first business ledger, as well as photos highlighting the salient moments from his life. Exhibited items vary from a school exercise book from the 1966 which shows Abela's ability in translating excerpts from Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico from Latin into English at the age of 14 years through to his school satchel which was only recently discovered. Meanwhile, a short video pays tribute to his integrity, experi- ence, humility and discipline, all qualities that stood out in his work. Other memorabilia portray his love for football. The Mosta community greatly benefited from Abela's generosity during his nine-year stint as President of Mosta FC, in which time Mosta also won the promotion to the MFA Premier Division. As a result, the Mosta football ground was officially named Charles Abela Memorial Sta- dium. In 2010, he was posthu- mously awarded Ġieħ il-Mosta in appreciation for his contri- bution to the community. The memorial room, which was blessed by Mons Joseph Agius, also comprises the boardroom table on which ma- jor decisions about the com- pany's development have been taken. Nectar's Chief Execu- tive Officer, Roderick Abela, said: "What we admire most about our father are his values together with his clear vision and sense of purpose in life. He never shied away from taking difficult decisions when cer- tain situations demanded such actions. After building the business literally from scratch and put- ting it on firm foundations, he has bequeathed us with a cher- ished legacy that we treasure both as a family and a business. Therefore, we decided to de- velop his office in a memorial room to celebrate his life and his legacy for many years to come." Nectar's Chief Commercial Officer, Carlos Abela, com- mented: "Our main goals are to meet clients' demands as well as to always look to bet- ter ourselves. Nevertheless, we must never lose sight of how our business was established. Therefore, the conversion of our founder's office into a memorial room ensures that all those who are linked to the company, as well as clients that visit us, will always remember our founder and the hard-work that went into building this or- ganisation." Carlos Abela noted that this memorial room does not only portray Charles the business- man, but also Charles as a fam- ily man and a respected mem- ber of the Mosta community. Honouring the memory of Nectar's founder The Memorial Room