Space to Learn Camp: egg landers, rockets, & telescopes in Belfast!
- 29th Jul 2024
- Author: Sophie Allan and Charlotte Stanyon
Following on from the success of our senior space camp in the second week of July, we welcomed nearly 40 year 8 students the very next week for another intense and engaging four days of space, STEM and careers fun!
Each day was themed, with talks and workshops focusing on topics that would allow students to gain information and ideas to feed into their group projects. The group projects allow students to gain skills in areas that the space industry has identified as key foci – communication, project management and teamwork. While initially an uncomfortable prospect for our budding young space engineers, over the course of the week we saw them grow in confidence.
The theme of day 1 was satellites: observing our planet, and looking at Mars from orbit. A team of engineers from Thales joined us to give a talk on the fundamentals of satellite construction and testing, and followed this up with a fantastic hands on activity. Students worked in teams to design and construct their own satellites, and then test them in ‘orbit’. This was followed with a lecture and workshop from Armagh Planetarium on how we can use satellites to monitor all manner of things from migration of animals to tracking penguins through their poo! Our own Sophie Allan rounded up the day by looking at what satellite images of Mars tell us about the planet and what this means for a potential future crewed mission to Mars.
Day 2 focused on some of the threats facing our planet, and how we can monitor and potentially solve these with the aid of space science and mathematics. We started off with a great session by Andrew Brown from Queens University Belfast on how we can apply the mathematics of probability to predicting the spread of wildfires. Sophie ran a session exploring the dangers of Near Earth Objects and led a discussion on how we could deal with an asteroid threat. We even built our own comet, before looking at some real meteorites. Next, our students took on the role of infrared sensing satellites and modelled thermal currents in their small oceans. We finished with exploring the effect of temperature on rates of reaction (with glow sticks!), and the implications this has for life on Earth.
Next up was our trip to Armagh Observatory and Planetarium where our students took part in a workshop testing their engineering and problem solving skills. Their challenge was (with limited materials they selected under a budget) to design and build a landing system for an egg lander. These were then tested by being dropped from a height - and we're happy to say a few of them survived!
We also had the opportunity to explore the exhibits and watch a planetarium show. The day was topped off with a tour of their telescopes, plus talks from researchers at the planetarium on stars and black holes, practical astronomy and weather.
Day 4 brought it all together with the project presentations and rocket launches. Sophie ran a workshop on the physics of rockets, and then students designed their own cardboard rockets that we launched outside. Students then finished preparing for their presentations and, despite some trepidation, did an excellent job of standing up and showcasing their ideas, thoughts, designs and scientific considerations for their future Mars base.
It was a whirlwind week and finally we want to say a massive thank you to everyone involved for making the Junior Space Camp the big success that it was. We received amazing feedback from both children and parents. The week was packed full of fun and engaging activities that the children seemed to absolutely love. All the students thrived and enjoyed working with new people and making new friends as well as learning lots of amazing space facts along the way!
