Monday, October 6. 2008
Congratulations to the team from Shrewsbury School who have won the Space Experiment Competition with their proposal for an ionospheric scintillation experiment called POISE. The team beat off competition from 5 other teams of schoolchildren in the UK to develop their experiment with SSTL and fly their entry a small satellite that will be launched by SSTL in 2010.
Shrewsbury School, in Shropshire, beat five other groups from around the UK in the final stage of the competition which was announced at an awards ceremony at the
International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow (IAC) today (Friday 3 October).
The competition, launched earlier this year, challenged teams of 14 – 19 year olds to design and build a small, compact satellite instrument. The POISE experiment is expected to measure variations in the ionosphere, which can affect the accuracy and safety of satellite navigation systems, and might also help to provide indications of impending earthquakes.
The POISE team had to overcome significant challenges to design their experiment within the tight constraints of the competition. Their instrument could be no larger than the size of a lunch box, weigh no more than one kilogram and operate on less than one Watt of power.
Ian Pearson, the Minister for Science and Innovation was impressed with the results.
We have some fantastically creative and talented young people in the country. It’s staggering to see the effort and imagination that has been generated by this competition.
The competition has been sponsored by the British National Space Centre (BNSC), a cross-Government organisation that co-ordinates civil space activities in the UK.
Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, founder of SSTL, emphasised the educational potential of the mission:
SSTL was founded by the University of Surrey and we have always had very strong links with academia, so we’re delighted to extend this opportunity to UK schools. I hope that the experiment will encourage more of our young people to take up careers in science and engineering.
Dr David Williams, Director General of BNSC
The UK has a fantastic capability in the space arena and ambitious plans for exciting programmes such as the lunar exploration mission, MoonLITE. We hope this competition will help to inspire the next generation of space scientists who will make those plans a reality.
The judging panel included Professor Colin Pillinger and Keith Mans, the Chief Executive of the
Royal Aeronautical Society.
The winning team was announced at IAC by South Korea's first astronaut, Soyeon Yi. She recently returned from a trip to the International Space Station, having been chosen from about 36,000 applicants for the mission.
Fri, 03.10.2008 15:31
Robin, "A couple of "yes"'s t here, but it seems you're not the only one interested in fin ding out more so I'll po [...]