First "CanSat" in 1987!

Apparently Terrance L. Thomas and David W. Yoel knew that small sized satellites would play an important role in the future. They called their satellite CANSAT. Their aim was no other than describing a telescience vapor crystal growth experiment launching the small sized satellite into low Earth orbit. The growth would be experimented due to an implemented transparent furnace. Crystalline materials growth needed to be studied because of the limitations that semiconductor devices suffer due to the size and the quality of those materials.

During the same year, NASA decided to study the feasibility of a small and inexpensive aircraft for a low-frequency radio interferometer array. They called it "GAS-Can" satellite. Scientist's goal was to produce high angular resolution images of the entire sky at frequencies from 2 to 20MHz. One of the developmental wed of the GAS canister is the ejection of free flying satellite (CANSATS). Their conclusion was that no fundamental problems were found for building an untraditional and inexpensive spacecraft. Its dimensions were 48.3cm in diameter and 88.9cm in length.

CANSAT and GAS-Can satellite showed us that everyone can investigate, because, apart from being an important breakthrough in terms of small satellites development, it was above all, a way of bringing aerospace science to ordinary people, mainly due to its low cost and short time of preparation that the experiment may need in comparison to the needed with big satellites.