Space inspires some stellar school success
IN 2015 when Major Tim Peake became the first UK astronaut on the International Space Station he spoke to schools in a video feed via a satellite dish at Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall.
The UK Space Agency has built on the educational legacy of Tim’s mission through SatelLife, a competition that asks young people how satellites could improve life on earth. Cornish schools have scooped some of the top awards and £25,000 in prizes.
In May, Judd Phillips, 15, and Calvin Hulance, Matthew Old and Joel Armstrong, all 14, of Treviglas Academy in Newquay won the team prize for their ‘Satoilite’ app to help people, including those with bowel conditions, find public toilets when travelling.
Jo Gough, head of science at Treviglas, said: “They worked with the Spaceport Cornwall team on developing their novel idea and I’m so proud of them because it has the potential to make a significant improvement to quality of life for many people.”
The team were interviewed on national BBC TV and received a video message from Tim Peake, who hailed their “brilliant” app.
A team from Helston Community College - Charlie Knott, 12, Evie Mansfield, 12 and Max Morgan, 11 – were runners up with the idea of using GPS trackers to locate plane crash survivors. Last year Richard Lander School, Truro, pupils won the team project for Surf Safe, a wristband using satellite location technology data to keep sea users safe. A team from the Roseland Academy won an award for an app to map and model the spread of infectious disease worldwide.
Melissa Thorpe, head of engagement at Spaceport Cornwall, said the success in the SatelLife Challenge owed much to Cornwall’s enthusiastic space industry support. “It’s amazing to see the impact of space on children’s imaginations and how it can really involve them in thinking about science and engineering in a different and exciting way,” she said.
The view is shared by Virgin Orbit, which plans to use a 747 aircraft to launch satellites into orbit from Newquay. On a visit to Cornwall this summer, Chief Executive Dan Hart said: “In places where space is happening, you see innovation, imagination, you see a spark from the companies in the area and the schools there.”