The Canadian Stratospheric Balloon Experiment Design Challenge (CAN-SBX) is a competition for Canadian post-secondary students to design and test a small scientific experiment to fly on board a high-altitude balloon provided by the Canadian Space Agency. The CAN-SBX program allows post-secondary students to develop different experiments in areas such as astrophysics, Earth atmosphere, Earth magnetic field, biology, remote sensing, and technology demonstrations.
This year, the CAN-SBX Design Challenge will take advantage of the new CSA balloon platform, allowing for payloads of up to 5 kg to fly under expandable balloons. These launches will be on a smaller scale, so students will have to design payloads that are both compact and lightweight, which may be challenging for certain applications.
Any student team at a Canadian university or college may submit a proposal, and after careful evaluation, top teams will be selected to fully design, build and fly their experiments. Selected teams will have the opportunity to attend the launch campaign which will involve students in launch operations, flight tracking, and payload recovery. The goal of CAN-SBX VI is for students to gain enough experience to eventually lead balloon launches from their home institutions. SEDS-Canada strives to create a tangible student-led impact in space exploration and development. This is a unique opportunity allows students to develop skills in STEM and conduct research in an environment that is unparalleled here on Earth.
Applications are now open for 2024. Submission deadline is October 8th 2023.