Public engagement officer, Lauren Mowberry, demonstrating the Apollo 11 launch. Credit: STFC
3…2…1…lift off! World Space Week got off to a great start at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, with 180 primary school pupils taking part in a Space Explorers Day on 4 October. The United Nations organised week, which runs annually from 4-10 October, is a celebration of science and technology, with thousands of events held worldwide.
Lots of exciting activities were in store for the budding space explorers. Throughout the day, pupils got to try out various space-themed activities, including going inside a planetarium, launching rockets, studying meteorites and more.
In the darkness of the planetarium, pupils experienced the night sky up close, learning about star constellations and the stories behind them. They also learnt about how the human eye adjusts to the dark, as well as examples of how constellations have influenced culture and society.
Next up: an ‘Earth Observation Detectives’ session led by Catapult, learning about the importance of satellites and earth observation. They then attempted to create their own origami satellite models, exactly 62 years to the day since the launch of Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite.
The space explorers also learnt about the Apollo 11 mission, the astronauts involved and the pioneering computer programmer behind the mission’s success, Margaret Hamilton. The process of launching a rocket and the distance between the Earth and the Moon was demonstrated on a much smaller scale, allowing pupils to appreciate the challenges of the three-day journey. Pupils then had the chance to make and launch their very own rockets!
Pupils investigating meteorites up close. Credit: STFC
At the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (ISIS) pupils took part in a ‘Microscopes and Meteorites’ activity. Here, they had the opportunity to examine space rocks under a microscope, before learning about how the world-leading facilities at ISIS can act as very powerful microscopes themselves.
The children had a fantastic time, with one pupil from Hagbourne School commenting “My favourite part of the day was everything we’ve done so far!”
Inspiring young people and the wider public in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) is a core value at STFC.
Find out more about what we do at all our sites by visiting: https://stfc.ukri.org/public-engagement/
Two thousand years ago the heat of a volcano burned the contents of a library in the doomed Roman city of Herculaneum. Today, a team of researchers from the University of Kentucky, working at the UK and STFC’s x-ray synchrotron Diamond Light Source research facility, are using the light of a billion Suns to hopefully reveal the writing locked away within the ancient charred papyri.
A team of scientists working at the Central Laser Facility (CLF) have made a key breakthrough in understanding how a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii reproduces with its host. The parasite, which causes a disease called toxoplasmosis, can infect almost any warm blooded animal but must reproduce in cats, can control the behaviour of its host and is thought to infect as much as half the world’s human population.
On October 9, the 2019 Nobel Prize for chemistry was awarded to three scientists for their work in developing the technology upon which much of our modern world relies: the lithium ion (Li-ion) battery.
World Space Week got off to a great start at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, with 180 primary school pupils taking part in a Space Explorers Day on 4 October.
Particle accelerators have been responsible for achieving some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in human history - CERN’s Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland enabled scientists to discover the Higgs boson.
Recently, STFC’s Hartree Centre at Daresbury Laboratory teamed up with Siemens, Invest Northern Ireland and Ulster University in its first steps towards increasing engagement with businesses in Northern Ireland.
Current placement students Churk, Neelam and Josie share their experiences of working at STFC.
A team of MRC Harwell researchers will be returning to STFC’s Central Laser Facility (CLF) in the autumn to investigate the properties of their innovative synthetic tissues.
Talking Science is back at Daresbury Laboratory, with the 2019/20 season of events having just been announced.
RAL Space scientists have been to Finland to test new methods of monitoring emissions of one of the major contributors to global warming.
Last updated: 28 October 2019
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