Can your school take on the challenge? Out of this world school projects

ESERO is pleased to announce the launch of five school projects aimed at primary and secondary school students that will run in the 2019-20 school year. These educational initiatives are to help young people improve their literacy and achievement in STEM subjects using their creativity and critical thinking. 

The European Astro Pi Challenge 2019/20

The European Astro Pi Challenge is an ESA Education project run in collaboration with the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It offers students and young people the amazing opportunity to conduct scientific investigations in space, by writing computer programs that run on Raspberry Pi computers on board the International Space Station (ISS). The Astro Pi challenge is divided in two separate missions featuring different levels of complexity.

Mission Zero:           

Open to students up to 14 years old

Open from 12 September 2019 to 20 March 2020

Mission Space Lab:

recommended for students aged 12-19 years

Phase 1: Design will be open from 12 September until 25 October 2019

Climate Detectives

In this project, teams of students are challenged to “make a difference”; they must identify and investigate a local climate problem by using satellite images or by taking measurements on the ground, and propose a way to monitor or improve the problem based on their findings.

At key phases of the project, real experts in the field of Earth observation and climate will support the teams by giving feedback on their investigation plans.

See what teams have done in the past edition here: https://climatedetectives.esa.int/

Open to students 8-15 years old

Open from 18 September 2019

CanSat

In this project, teams build a small satellite (the size of a soft drink can) that will be launched up to 1 km on a small rocket. Teams must complete two missions: the primary mission, mandatory for all, requires the students to measure air temperature and pressure and receive the data at their ground station every second; the secondary mission is open to the students’ imagination and can range from science to engineering experiments.

The 15th National CanSat competition will take place in the 2019-20 school year in: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Nordic countries (Finland, Norway and Sweden), Portugal, Poland, Romania, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. Teams from those countries will need to apply via their national organiser.

Application for teams from Estonia, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Canada or Slovenia (directly through ESA) will open on 27 September. See the complete timeline of the competition here

Open to students 14-19 years old

Open 27 September - 2 December 2019

Moon Camp

In this international and inspirational programme students will use innovative learning technologies to design their own Moon settlement with a 3D modeling tool (Tinkercad or Fusion 360). Teams will also have to develop a number of scientific experiments to explore the extreme environment of space and understand how astronauts could live on the Moon.

Moon Camp Zero (NEW)

Open to students aged 6 to 14 years old
Open 4 November 2019 to 31 January 2020

Moon Camp Challenge Category 1

Open to students up to (and including) 14 years old
Open 6 January 2020 to 25 March 2020

Moon Camp Challenge Category 2

Open to students 15 to 18 years old
Open 6 January 2020 to 25 March 2020

Mission X

Mission X: Train like an astronaut is an international educational challenge that focuses on health, science, fitness and nutrition and encourages pupils to train like an astronaut. 

On this challenge, pupils practice scientific reasoning and teamwork whilst participating in hands-on STEM education and physical education activities targeting strength, endurance, coordination, balance and spatial awareness.

Open to students 8-12 years old

Open January 2020

Find out more about all of the ESA school projects and how to participate by visiting the ESA Education webpage www.esa.int/Education