Regional UK Space Design Competition
On 4th of December, a group of Kendrick students participated in and won the Regional UK Space Design Competition. It was a jam-packed, full day event run by Imperial College London. The students were given a press release and a 'Request for Proposal' was made. The participants had to meet the criteria as much as possible in order to succeed. Our project was to design an efficient vehicle suitable for business travellers in the future in order to continue working effectively and comfortably whilst they travelled between Earth and Mars. Subsequently, we had to present this idea to a group of clients, namely The Foundation Society.
To begin with, we were placed into a group with other schools such as St Olave's Grammar School and Haberdashers' Aske's School. Our team was Kepler Automations. We were then separated into the different branches of engineering such as Structural, Human, Automation and Operations. Ishita was part of the structural team while Saanvi was part of the human engineering team. As part of the project, we were asked to consider factors such as: Finance, Sustainability, Safety and Durability of our vehicle and communicate our requirements to other groups of the Kepler team.
Finally, we presented our idea to the potential investors while explaining our innovative design and choice of materials used to build the futuristic spacecraft. We were also requested to present an optimal cost for the whole project and mention any subcontractors used. Each team presented their sector and how it successfully met the Request for Proposal. Our team won! It was an amazing experience, and we cannot wait for the finals at Imperial College London!
‘I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the structural engineering team for Kepler because I got the opportunity to use my Maths and Physics skills in a real life situation to design the main frame of the vehicle and optimise the usage of materials.’ - Ishita, Year 11
‘I love solving problems and being a part of the operations department allowed me to communicate with other teams and tackle interesting problems when sorting out the logistics of the mission.’- Aniya, Year 10
By Ishita - Year 11 and Saanvi - Year 12