Student Success


Aiming from the Stars F


our BHS students have designed a science experiment that will be run from the International Space Station (ISS).


Mila Kendell ‘19, Yulia Isaeva ‘19, Mia Oleksak ‘21 and Katarina Rance ’22 entered the 2017/2018 Astro Pi Challenge, run in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), and spent four months learning about the confluence of Space Engineering, Coding and Electronics. Their experiment looks at whether lightning affects the magnetic fields above the earth (the magnetosphere) and was selected out of 212 entries from 22 countries.


The rules of the competition were simple, yet broad. The students were asked, “If you could design an experiment for the ISS what would it be?”


Supported by their Physics


Teacher, Dr Feito, they used a mini-computer with a multitude of sensors to simulate their experiment and write programming code for a Raspberry Pi, a small single-board computer used onboard the ISS. Mila explains how they came up with their experiment, “We were trying to generate ideas to use the instruments available on the Raspberry Pi. “They are a gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, thermometer, barometer and humidity sensor. We were throwing around variables that we could measure and compare to make a larger experiment.” With their idea in place, they then had


to learn Python, the coding language of the Raspberry Pi. “We took Python courses so we would all have at least basic knowledge of the


language,” says Mia. “This taught me the importance of every team member being capable in whatever was needed for the project.” To further build their knowledge, they turned to the guidance of Dr Feito and also consulted Internet forums and online tutorials.


“Eventually we built an extensive understanding of the aspects of our project, such as the display, collecting and


Image: NASA


has no doubt tested the girls, they all feel that they have learned a great deal. Katarina, the youngest student in the


group, learned a very valuable lesson which she says will help her throughout her school career, “I have learnt that to achieve my goals, I must be patient and I have to spread the work out. I can’t do it all in one go.”


For some of the older students, the


project has solidified their choices for their careers beyond BHS. “I have recently been very


interested in pursuing a career involving physics - specifically astrophysics, as it has been one of my main interests for a long time,” says Mia. “This project inspired me in the sense that it gave me a lot more insight into the actual work done by scientists working at NASA and the ESA, so for me it was an incredible opportunity.” Yulia says she already knew she wanted to be an engineer before participating in this challenge, and that the experience has reinforced her ambitions.


storing magnetometer data or camera settings and imaging,” says Mila. With coding language learned, the girls then had to programme the computer to detect bright flashes and lightning from the images it captured. “We experimented many times to try and perfect this, as it was the main focus of our experiment,” says Yulia. “We used a variety of flashlights, and even a video of the earth containing visible lightning to test our code.”


While taking part in such a challenge


“I absolutely loved the challenge and working through all the difficulties that confronted us,” she says. “I learned so much about how to program, which I know will be very useful in the future.”


In April, the code will be sent to the ISS, and then the team will receive the raw data from their experiment. Next, to get deeper insight into the process of scientific endeavour, they will need to produce and submit a final report analysing their findings. Winners will then be chosen based on the merit of their final report.


Torchbearer Spring 2018 17


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