This workshop was very interesting. We had a visit from a member of the team involved in ESTCUBE-1 who set us a mission.
MISSION:
Satellite orbiting the Moon and taking images of the Earth
Mass should be less than 10 kg.
Earth-Moon diameter: 380,000 km
Earth diameter: 12,700 km
We had to create a hypothetical satellite, decide what it needed to have to complete the mission and how it should be built. We learned a lot about this, especially the components needed for this to survive in space. The basic construction needed to be light, with an extremely good camera, power sources for it to continue to transmit pictures back to earth and to function, alarm systems for any issues etc. It also needs money and sponsorship (e.g. from universities etc) which is a major aspect as the project is a non-starter without it.
It was great fun which gave a lot of new information to the youngsters.
In the afternoon the youngsters tried to make contact with a satellite passing overhead. This was very dependent on the equipment used as well as the satellites path etc and unfortunately was unsuccessful on this day but we had great fun in trying.
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