Bletchley Park based science innovation company offers school children the opportunity to fly a sculpture into space on board a NASA rocket for free.
SμGRE-1 (pronounced ‘sugar’- Schools micro-Gravity Rocket Experiment) is an exciting opportunity for schools, colleges and home-schooling households to design a sculpture to be part of a micro-gravity and 3D imaging experimental rocket payload, scheduled to launch from the Pacific Marshall Islands in April 2018.
The NASA WRX-R (Water Recovery X-ray Rocket), will travel into sub-orbital space where imaging technology will record the micro-gravity experience their sculptures encounter for students to later experience on 3D headsets when back in the classroom. The rocket will then return to Earth where the SμGRE-1 payload will be recovered and the sculptures returned to the schools, along with a certificate authenticating they have been in space.
As many suitable entries as possible will be fitted inside the SμGRE-1 payload before launch. It is anticipated up to 1,000 sculptures will be part of this exciting mission that forms an ideal STEM lesson project or after school activity.
Entry is free, except for the costs involved in manufacturing the sculptures and postage to and from DIAL in Bletchley. Typically the sculptures can be made of wood, acrylic, 3-D printed resin or metal. Students are also encouraged to follow the mission progress documented on Twitter (@SuGRE_1) and YouTube.
The opportunity is open to all schools with children under the age of 18. Deadline for entries is 2 February 2018.
Requirements for the sculptures are:
- must fit within a cuboid of 4 cm3, e.g. the size of a sugar cube
- can be made of any material that is suitable for taking on an aeroplane in hand luggage and must remain solid up to a temperature of 100°C
- must not weigh more than 4 grams.
- be able to withstand a force of 12 g.
The rocket’s main mission is a high-energy astrophysics telescope mission looking at the Vela Supernova Remnant which aims to test cutting-edge technologies including X-ray optics, diffraction gratings and detectors, as well as housing this exciting outreach project that will test new 3D imaging technologies.
DIAL Director Dr Neil Murray has over 12 years’ experience developing imaging solutions for space missions:
‘We are over the moon to be gifted this fantastic and rare opportunity for kids to engage in a real life space mission! I recognise the challenge to inspire children into STEM careers and so I hope this opportunity will give valuable insight into how exciting work in this field can be. Without the encouragement of my mentor I wouldn’t have envisaged this career path, but have found my flare for solving engineering problems from a young age translated well into space instrumentation and has rewarded me with this amazing career. I hope this is an opportunity for the other unlikely science engineers out there to recognise their potential’.
Full mission progress including videos, pictures, updates and interviews with the WRX-R contributors can be followed on Twitter @SUGRE_1. For further information also visit www.SuGRE-1.com.