UKSA

The ExoMars Rover Zone was funded by the UK Space Agency, as part of the Space Exploration Education and Outreach Award Scheme. The activity allowed school students to connect with different teams who worked on the ExoMars mission, gaining insights into the engineering, science and technology needed to send a robot to another planet. 

The ExoMars Rover Zone was initially planned to run from January – July 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the school closures that ensued, the decision was made to close this zone early. Continue reading →

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The Space Zone was a themed zone supported by the UK Space Agency. There were six engineers:

• Vinita Marwaha Madil, who plans operations at the European Space Agency (ESA) for future human spaceflight projects.
• Rachel Hudson helps to build and test instruments for two ESA missions to Jupiter and the Sun.
• Pam Anderson, an ambassador for the ESA, helps people understand how they might use space technology for the benefit of life on Earth.
• Christopher Youens, a Spacecraft Operations Engineer takes care of four satellites that perform Earth Observation.
• Brian Weaver, the winner of the zone, uses satellites that fly 20,000 km around the Earth to guide driverless tractors in farms, or ships in the ocean, all around the world.
• Andrew Ratcliffe is the Head of Launch Systems at the UK Space Agency and leads the team investigating how to launch vehicles into space safely.

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Read the full report

The Space Zone was a themed zone supported by the UK Space Agency and featured six engineers:

• Samuel Bancroft works in the tech team at Earth-i and develops code to process data from live satellites
• Robson Witts is an apprentice at Oxford Space Systems and creates deployable satellite structures for the space industry
• Reshma Vora is a product application specialist at NAVBLUE and uses techniques to predict the availability of GPS to help pilots navigate
• Raam Shanker is the founder of Equitus Engineering Ltd, making parts for rockets that are sent to space
• K-Jo O’Flynn, this zone’s winner, is also an apprentice at Oxford Space Systems, where she builds antennas and other space technologies
• Alison Dufresne is a propulsion and systems engineer at Deep Space Industries where she designs and build rocket engines

The students in this zone were keen to hear about the different paths the engineers took to get to their current roles, especially interested in K-Jo and Robson’s experience getting an apprenticeship. K-Jo is the youngest ever winner of I’m an Engineer, and at 17 she was closer in age to the students than to most of the other engineers in the zone. The students engaged well with her and could relate to her more recent experiences. Continue reading →

Read the full report The Space Zone was supported by the UK Space Agency with six engineers from upstream and downstream fields of the space industry taking part. Xu is an ecologist and Earth observation scientist using satellites to take pictures of Earth and telling people about what those pictures may mean Leah-Nani helps to build scientific instruments that go on spacecraft to explore the solar system Kathryn is computer modelling a precise, low gravity clock to be installed on the International Space Station Ian is CEO at Goonhilly Earth Station, a company that communicates with space ships and satellites Hina is working to make the information we collect from satellites in space useful for people on Earth and to make our life on Earth better Andrew (the winner of this zone) is an electronics engineer who designs equipment such as cameras and propulsion systems for spacecraft

Read the full report The Space Telescope Zone was funded by the UK Space Agency, with five engineers working in different areas: Ollie is a PhD student studying how black holes move and how they affect the space they move in Hermine designs and makes telescopes and instruments that can be used to find out more about the universe Guy, the winner of this zone, writes software for space telescope missions that are trying to find exploding stars and new planets Christine is a PhD student studying gravitational waves Angus is currently working on the design of an instrument for the James Webb Telescope. The engineers in this zone showed an obvious enthusiasm for their field which came across in their conversations with students in both live chats and Ask. All the engineers were great at explaining complex topics in an accessible way, with Guy and Ollie making up nearly … Continue reading →

Read the full report The Satellite Zone was funded by the UK Space Agency with six engineers working in different fields within the space industry. Sylwia is a Geographic Information Systems specialist working on digital mapping technology Stephen designs software that gathers pictures of Earth from satellites Phil designs, manufactures and tests spacecraft Matt is a director of space engineering who communicates with spacecraft around Mars Hollie, the winner in this zone, develops coatings that can be used in extreme environments such as rocket thrusters Helen is working on an instrument for a satellite to get closer to the sun than anything has before All of the engineers in this zone took an active role in the event and were great at building a rapport with students, as well as answering questions openly and informatively.

Read the full report The Space Zone was a themed zone funded by the UK Space Agency with six engineers all working with satellites. Will, the winner of this zone, builds satellites that monitor natural and man-made disasters, Silvia studies the ocean using pictures taken by satellites and Kieran, who started his career as an apprentice, is now the Chief Development Officer for the Satellite Application Catapult. Katie monitors and controls satellites in orbit around earth, Isaac designs and builds satellites and Betty is a rocket engineer who uses satellites to help bring the internet to everyone. This was the busiest of all the I’m an Engineer zones for this event with over 2,300 questions asked by students, 697 of which were approved. Almost 60% of these were asked by one school, Lathom Junior School. All the engineers answered many questions in ASK, and Will, Katie and Silvia were most … Continue reading →