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A space weather experiment designed and built by four Year
10 students at KEVICC in Totnes will be taking off in April 2009. The payload
will ascend to the upper atmosphere on a balloon and touch the edge of space
before descending back to earth with the data it has collected. The aim of the
experiment is to photograph the aurora as it appears above our atmosphere. This
can help us understand and predict changes in solar radiation and space
weather.
The students are one of just four teams in the UK to reach
the final round of the Spaceflight competition run by the University of
Cambridge. After finding out they had succeeded in getting through to the final
round they immediately started to develop the payload. They applied for a grant
from the foundation governors at their college and also applied to two
companies in the South West for private sponsorship of parts. These companies
were invited to donate sensing equipment in return for advertising on the
payload and national media coverage.
Scitec Instruments
from Redruth in Cornwall has generously donated high tech
UV sensors which have a special filter
that gives data relevant to human skin. This could give significant results
for human space travel.
Science teacher Mrs Katrina Fennell is over the moon with
their success! "Rory, Ben, Matt and Kizzy have really excelled in this project.
They have taken all the initiative and completed all of the work in their own
time. I am incredibly proud of their achievement!"
The team of four 15 year olds beat off competition from much
older students (up to 19 years old) to win the dream prize of a chance to do a
real experiment in space. We wish them luck as the launch date draws near.
"We've had to do a lot of research and extend our understanding to make this
project work," said Rory Clements, "but the hard work has really paid off. I
still can't believe our experiment will actually be flying into space next
month. It's amazing!"
The race is now on as the team only have a week left to
complete, test and calibrate the payload before its flight over Easter. The
launch will be (weather depending) from Cambridge at some time over the Easter
break. The duration of the flight is expected to be about six hours and it will
experience the vacuum of space and temperatures as low as -500ºC.
By Kizzy Brooks, Year 10 KEVICC. |
KEVICC Spaceflight team celebrate success.
L-R: Ben Ayles-Evans, Rory Clements, Matt
Trott, Kizzy Brooks. |
