Imperial Aero Undergraduate an expert in NASA competition

The Aeronautics Department funds one student to visit NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas to act as a technical expert

The Aeronautics Department is funding one second year Aeronautics Undergraduate student to visit NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas to act as a technical expert at the international finals of the Space Design Competition in August.

The UK finals of the Space Design Competition are run by the Space Science and Engineering Foundation, an educational charity which aims to engage students (school years 10-13 and occasionally below) in science and engineering. The students are challenged to create competitive designs proposals as teams for a space settlement on an extra-terrestrial body, such as Mars or the moon.

The UK finals are held at Imperial College each year, and continue to be a resounding success: around 200 students from across the country attended this year, and in my conversations with them unanimously said the experience had truly opened their eyes to both the field of engineering (never really covered at school) and the potential of study at a world-leading university. 12 members of the winning team travel to NASA’s Houston Space Center in August, to compete in the international finals there.

This year, Adam Braithwaite (second year Aeronautics student) acted as both a senior technical expert (advising on structural design, planning and transport) and a competition judge, together with representatives of the UK Space Agency, Boeing, and various other institutions. Following feedback from the organising chairs, Adam was lucky enough to be offered an opportunity to accompany the students to the international finals this year, as it has previously been observed that they derive great benefit from being accompanied to the international stage by a familiar representative to offer encouragement, direction, and answer the many inevitable questions.

Adam's role at the final will be as a mentor for the UK students and as a technical expert, fulfilling a similar role at the international final of the competition as he did in the UK.