When you shout across the playing field at school, your voice is travelling at around 343 metres per second. In miles per hour, that’s 767mph! Despite what a Year 9 once told me, it is definitely a lot faster than “that lad in Year 10 who’s got trials for county athletics”.
So, why am I talking about the speed of sound?
I read a news report last week about a new radar system which can track objects moving at three times the speed of sound. Designed and developed by BAE systems, this radar has just been installed on the Navy’s future aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Built from the same material as Formula 1 cars, the radar system is surrounded by carbon glass fibre and sits near the top of the aircraft carrier, weighing 700kg. It can track up to 800 objects 25km away, each potentially as small as a tennis ball, moving at around 2301mph! After a quick internet search, that is quicker than a typhoon fighter jet (1550mph), a submarine (34mph) and an aircraft carrier (29mph).
BAE Systems are game-changers in the development of new technologies, as they maintain their global leading status in military, aerospace, and security capabilities. Partnering with academic and industrial leaders, BAE are constantly developing new technologies to support future product strategies. But what they want to encourage is inspiring the next generation of engineers and are offering the perfect opportunity for teachers to visit BAE Systems and find out the exciting possibilities available down a career path in engineering.
If you are a STEM teacher, technician or a careers coordinator, based near Portsmouth, Glasgow, Preston or Barrow, you could be able to see BAE Systems in action for yourself!
The National STEM Centre and National Science Learning Centre is working with BAE Systems to provide a unique bursary funded early careers awareness programme. Up to 80 teachers from across the country will be given the opportunity to visit their local BAE System site, tour the facility, collect and try out some new STEM resources and speak to apprentices and graduates about what it is like to be involved in a cutting edge engineering manufacturing facility.
Four months after this inspirational experience, participants will be invited to a STEM careers conference at the National STEM Centre and National Science Learning Centre, to discover more about future careers in the STEM industry and gain ideas for better preparing students for life after the classroom.
Find out more about the BAE Systems early careers awareness programme.
For ideas on teaching about radar and communication in the classroom, here are three resources from the National STEM Centre eLibrary that you might find useful: