Two young scientists from a West Sussex school were special guests at the House of Commons where they won top awards for their work about space. Mary Reader (14) and sixteen-year-old Charles Board, both pupils at Ardingly College near Haywards Heath, won the prestigious Be A Cassini Scientist For A Day competition, organised by NASA, Queen Mary University and other leading British research organisations.
The contest, to celebrate space across the curriculum, challenged students to write 500 words stating what would be the most scientifically valuable target for NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, and why. Cassini has been on a mission to Saturn since 1997, arriving there in 2004 since when it has made a number of significant discoveries. For instance, in November, NASA released the latest raw images of the rippling surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus, from the Cassini spacecraft's extended mission to the planet and its satellites.
Charles Board, whose essay came top in the Key Stage 5 age category and Mary Reader, whose essay topped the Key Stage 4 section, both advocated Titan as Cassini’s prime target. Charles wrote that Titan “could provide a location for colonisation in the future, the only way that the human race will be able to grow further, perhaps with the potential to utilise the vast quantities of hydrocarbons on Titan to replace the ever diminishing supplies on Earth.”
In her essay, Mary wrote: “With the new cloud-penetrating radar of the Cassini spacecraft, we could understand more about Titan’s surface and discover the answers to many scientific and philosophical questions. These include… how the Earth has come to support complex life and the formation of the planets.”
The winners were announced at a reception hosted by the Parliamentary Space Committee. Mary and Charles were presented with their awards of Amazon gift vouchers by NASA astronaut Richard Garriott and Lucy Hawking, the writer and daughter of Professor Stephen Hawking.
Ardingly physics teacher Igor Zarkhov said he was exceptionally proud of the winning students. “The reception was an amazing opportunity for them to communicate with leading scientists, politicians and educators and seek advice from them about careers in space science and technology.”
Mon 28th Dec 2009
