Kids in Space program at the Hedley Beare Centre for Teaching & Learning

The Canberra Times

Students from 8 ACT schools will be sharing space-themed projects and what they've learned about the space industry as part of the Kids in Space program, sponsored by Australian Space Agency and Andy Thomas Space Foundation.

Transcript

00:00 [ Background noise ]

00:11 >> So the Kids in Space program is a national program

00:13 for mainly primary school kids and it's eight schools

00:17 in every state and territory and it involves a lot

00:19 of professional development for teachers

00:21 and then a big celebration on the showcase day

00:24 where the kids have been working on their space theme projects

00:26 for two terms, come together and show off what they've made.

00:30 We have some fantastic industry judges in today

00:32 from the space agency, from KBR and from Airbus

00:36 and they're judging the kids' work

00:38 and the winning team wins a trip to Adelaide

00:41 to the Australian Space Discovery Centre

00:42 to showcase the [inaudible] with kids from all over Australia.

00:45 And as part of the program we give each school

00:48 and each teacher a 3D printer and they get taught how

00:50 to use it so they can actually see their creations come

00:53 to life in, you know, in a tangible way.

00:55 >> This is the DCR, aka the Debris Collecting Robot.

01:00 This was our prototype, so our first ever one.

01:04 We found some flaws in it when we were printing it,

01:07 when we were printing a larger one so we had to change it

01:10 around like we had to change the vacuums

01:12 from this shape to this shape.

01:14 We also added a programming plate because it made

01:17 more sense.

01:17 We changed the vacuums from this shape to this shape.

01:20 We also added a programming plate because it made more sense.

01:23 >> Where the astronauts can enter a code like where to go

01:29 to collect space junk, where some is,

01:31 and the robot will go there and collect it all and bring it back

01:35 to the astronauts so it can be reused at the end of the day

01:38 and then decide to turn it into a new satellite

01:41 or even fuel for the robot.

01:42 >> So our idea is preventing bone loss.

01:46 Astronauts in space, they have to exercise six days a week

01:51 for about two and a half hours.

01:54 That's a lot.

01:54 And they have to use all this heavy equipment

01:58 and like harnesses and stuff.

02:00 So we wanted to make it easier for them to exercise.

02:04 Our idea is a little boot or shoe

02:09 that has magnets inside of it.

02:11 And when they go on a treadmill or like an exercise bike,

02:18 it will be hopefully magnetic and they can walk around on it.

02:23 >> It was a little bit hard at first to make the model itself.

02:27 But once we got the hang of it, it became a lot easier.

02:31 >> Yeah, we really hope to be able to build on it

02:33 and involve these schools and a lot more next year

02:35 and expand the program.

02:37 >> Our goal is to make space junk reusable.

02:41 [ Background noise ]

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