Secondary pupils from MYJHS visited the newly opened Spaceport at Saxavord, Unst.
The day started with a presentation from RFA (Rocket Factory Augsburg) about what the centre is hoping to achieve and about careers in the space industry. RFA stressed that it was not all about scientist and engineers, but also the need for coders, accountants and support staff.
The rest of the event was split into four activities:
- a trip along some very bumpy and uneven roads to the launch site. Here we were driven around the site, looking at the old World War 2 structure, in amongst the modern technology. The site is still very much a building site with only launch pad 1 built. .
2. to build, using newspaper and masking tape a launch cradle and then the largest rocket that could be supported by the cradle. Two of the rockets where nearly two metres high.
3. using Lego Mindstorm robots. The students had to program their robot to orbit a picture of the Earth, thus simulating a satellite. Once they had mastered that, their second task was to orbit the Earth, locate a Lego structure pretending to be a satellite, hook it in the robot’s grab and return to earth.
4. used Lego Mindstorms, in this challenge they had to design, and build a robot that could travel a course of three metres, turn once it reach a line and then return to the start. The students had a range of different sensors that they could use, including one that detected colour and one for distance. Using the various sensors they were able to code the robots to turn on reach the 3 metre line.
Our students represented the school well, asking questions, showing great team work stills and completing all the tasks and challenges ask of them. Well done to them all and we hope that one of two of them have been inspired by the day to seek a career in space at Saxavord in the future.
Big thanks to Emma Spence DYW Co-ordinator for organising this trip.
