During June to September 2024, the Makers Empire team is busy criss-crossing Australia to deliver Kids in Space finals and showcase events in every state and territory. Sponsored by the Andy Thomas Space Foundation and supported by the Australian Space Agency, Kids in Space introduces students to space technology and promotes awareness of job opportunities in space via exciting, space-themed STEM learning and design thinking.
Kids in Space 2024 will impact 115+ primary schools, 16,000 students and hundreds teachers across Australia. This years Kids in Space is 62% bigger than 2023’s inaugural program, thanks to new supporters such as the Northern Territory’s Department of Education, iLAuNCH Trailblazer, Victorian Department of Education, Catholic Education South Australia, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, and the Milner Road Foundation.
Kids in Space 2024 began with professional development days in each state and territory during February to May so that teachers could hear from guest speakers from the space industry, and receive training from Makers Empire experts on Design Thinking, Makers Empire’s 3D design tools, solving space-related problems, and 3D printing.
Students then worked on their responses to the design thinking challenge: design something that might help astronauts to work and live in space or use space technologies to design something that will help solve a problem on Earth.
The Kids in Space state/territory finals and showcase events are designed for schools to come together to share their learning, and to listen to guest speakers from the space industry. Each school also prepared an expo style booth displaying their design thinking challenge solutions, which was in the running for one of two prizes awarded by guests judges and their fellow students. The wining team chosen by the judges wins a trip to Adelaide to compete in the national Kids in Space showcase at the Australian Space Discovery Centre in November.
Below is a summary of the state/territory finals to date. We will add more details of the remaining finals in other states/territories as they occur.
See highlights and the winners from the showcase events in each state and territory:
NT Kids in Space Showcase | The Essington School
The 14 Northern Territory (NT) schools participating in Kids in Space — Anula Primary School, Humpty Doo Primary School, Rosebery Primary School, Angurugu School, Borroloola School, Haileybury Rendall School, Alpurrurulam School, Jingili Primary School, Middle Point School, Wagaman Primary School, Malak Primary School, The Essington School, Driver Primary School, and Manunda Terrace Primary School — came together on 4th June for the territory finals and showcase at The Essington School in Rapid Creek.
The judges were Geneveive Donohue, Teaching & Learning Advisor, NT Education Department, Dr Stean Maier, Head, Maitec, Sarah Sutcliffe, Manager, Inspired NT, and Peter Nikoloff, Executive Director, Andy Thomas Space Foundation.
Wagaman Primary School was awarded NT state winner by the guest judge. Wagaman students wanted to enhance the effectiveness and safety of search and rescue missions in hazardous environments. Based on their research on space rovers, they designed firefighting rovers that use space technologies to collect and relay information to firefighters and first responders around signs of life.
Angurugu School was awarded the student-voted peer prize. This team of students from Groote Eylandt used space technologies to monitor the weather patterns and impact of a major tropical cyclone that hit their community in March 2024. To address the issue of minimal access to clean water following this devastating event, the students designed a water filter for drink bottles. Congratulations to both schools!!
Thanks to The Essington School, our esteemed judges and the the NT News for their awesome coverage.
QLD Kids in Space Showcase | St Mary's College
The 14 Queensland (QLD) schools participating in Kids in Space — Chinchilla State School, Dalby South State School, St Mary’s College, St Patrick’s School, Allora College, St Stephen’s Catholic Primary School, Vale View State School, Rangeville State School, Tara Shire State College, Maryvale State School, Pilton State School, Moffatdale State School, Warwick West State School, Meringandan State School, and Kulpi State School — came together on 7th June for the state finals and showcase at St Mary’s College in Toowoomba.
The judges were Dr Timothy Holt, Lecturer in Physics & Astronomy, UniSQ’s Toowoomba; Hunter Walkenhorst, Associate Director, iLAuNCH; Vedika Latchman-Singh, Business Development Manager: Global Space & Astronomy, CSIRO; Giovanni Bernal Carrillo, Business Manager, iLAuNCH; Hannah Ashford, Managing Director, The Karman Project; Rachel Junge, Senior Events & Communications Officer, Australian Space Agency.
Maryvale State School was judged the Queensland state winner with their designed solutions to deal with the problems of space junk and space junk falling to Earth. Congratulations also to Vale View State School, which took out the student-voted peer prize with their solutions that looked at what would be required to colonise Mars and tosustain life on Mars.
Thanks to St Mary’s College, our esteemed judges, The Chronicle and Channel 7.
NSW Kids in Space | Rutherford Primary School
The 8 New South Wales (NSW) schools participating in Kids in Space — St Paul’s Primary School, Belmont Christian College, St Philip’s Christian College Newcastle, Branxton Public School, Ourimbah Public School, Charlestown Public School, Rutherford Public School, and Woolomin Public School — came together for the state finals and showcase on 21 June at Rutherford Public School.
The judges were Conrad Lategan, Structures Engineer, BAE Systems; Dr Scott Sleap, national STEM education leader; Tracey Friend, Strategic Pursuits Manager: Air, Nova Systems; Tim Parsons, Expert-in-Residence, Cicada Innovations.
The winner of the NSW showcase day was Charlestown Public School, whose students designed a Judo Saver Sleep Mask (J.S.S.M) to maximise the sleep cycle for astronauts, recognising if they sleep better they work better. Future iterations will include red/amber lighting to stimulate the production of melatonin and signal sleep.
Congratulations also to Belmont Christian College, Ourimbah Public School, and Woolomin Public School who won the student-voted Peer Award in a three-way tie:
- Woolomin students explored ways to sustain human life on other planets, learning from mistakes made on Earth. They took a deeper dive into sustaining life on Mars, including research on its soil and environment to explore how it might support plant growth.
- Team 2 from Ourimbah identified a range of community-based problems. Their imaginative designs, drawing on space technologies, included virtual pets, rechargeable hearing aid batteries, self-driving farming equipment and cleaning robots to help keep their playground clean.
- Belmont students were concerned about the devastation that speeding-related accidents can have on people’s lives and wellbeing. They designed a solution to address the problem; an automatic speed limiter. This device uses GPS space technology to track the car’s speed and auto-pilots and alert systems to prevent the car from driving above the speed limit.
Thanks to Rutherford Primary School and our esteemed judges.
SA (CESA) Kids in Space | Lot Fourteen
The 13 Catholic SA schools participating in Kids in Space — St Joseph’s School Barmera, Our Lady of the River School, St Joseph’s School Renmark, St Albert’s Catholic School Loxton, St Mary Mackillop School, Our Lady Queen of Peace School, Christian Brothers College, Our Lady of Hope School, St Mark’s College – Port Pirie, Tenison Woods Catholic School, Whitefriars Catholic School, St Patrick’s School, and Mercedes College — came together on 1st July for a showcase at the Start Up Hub at Lot Fourteen.
The judges were Martin Mosert, Test Engineer, Neumann Space; Steve Campbell, Assistant Director, International Partnerships, Australian Space Agency; Michael Davis, Chair, Andy Thomas Space Foundation; Darcey Watson, Executive Officer, Andy Thomas Space Foundation; Nat Shearer, Space Systems Engineer, Australian Space Agency; and Kavindi De Silva, PR & Corporate Affairs Officer, Inovor Technologies.
Congratulations to Our Lady Queen of Peace School for winning the SA Finals. They addressed the problem of space junk by designing The Chomper, a solution that recycles, refurbishes and re-uses space debris, taking into account factors such as safety and cost. The Chomper’s features include high-tech cameras, strong teeth, storage compartments and solar panels.
Congratulations also to Our Lady of the River School who won the Peer Prize for their solution to deal with the over-population of carp in the Murray River. Mercedes College was also awarded a special CESA-awarded prize for their wellbeing robot and anti-gravity pods to look after astronauts’ wellbeing.
Thanks to Lot Fourteen and our esteemed judges.
SA Kids in Space | Adelaide Convention Centre
The 13 SA schools participating in Kids in Space — Coomandook Area School, Kaurna Plains School, Elizabeth Downs Primary School, Riverdale Primary School, Melaleuca Park Primary School, Virginia Primary School, St Francis Lockleys IQRA College, St Joseph’s Ottoway, St Peter’s Woodlands Grammar School, Uraidla Primary School, Westport Primary School, and Eudunda Area School — came together on 4th July for a showcase at the Adelaide Convention Centre as part of the national Space Forum.
Special guests included the Hon Ed Husic, Minister for Industry and Science, astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg, Director of Space Technology at the Australian Space Agency, Enrico Parlemo, Head of the Australian Space Agency, Minister Collins, Enrico Parlemo, Head of the Australian Space Agency, the Hon Minister Collins, Minister of Defence (New Zealand) and Iain Cossar, Head of the New Zealand Space Agency.
The judges were Maria Viera, Lecturer – Education Futures Outreach, UniSA; Nigel Doyle, Principal Consultant for Frazer-Nash (KB), Cassie Mawson, Project Coordinator, Early Careers, BAE, Lauren Springer, Space Science Officer Space-Enabled Services and Science, Australian Space Agency, Marianne Hawthorne – Economics Data Analyst, Australian Space Agency, Jack Rintoul, Space Systems Engineer, Australian Space Agency.
Congratulations to St Peters Woodland Grammar School for taking out the SA Finals. Students at St Peters Woodland learned that astronauts have severe sinus problems because of the low gravity in space. So they created Hot Drops chilli menthols and a space-safe dispenser that works in zero gravity to help them.
Congratulations also to St Francis School: Lockleys (Team #5) for winning the SA Peer Prize. The students researched the challenges that astronauts on the International Space Station can face around accessing and managing food and achieving a balanced diet. They designed a range of food packagings and an inventive food tray with separate compartments for adding carbohydrates, protein, water, snacks and fruit.
Thanks to our special guests, esteemed judges, Channel 10 and ABC Radio.
Fun times at the 17th @AndyThomasSpace🚀Space Forum! Encouraged to see the exciting projects on display at the Kids in Space Education Program😍with @MakersEmpire pic.twitter.com/e8k4IH7Ong
— Katherine Bennell-Pegg (@AussieAstroKat) July 25, 2024
There are more than 36,000 pieces of space junk in Earth’s orbit, and today I saw some budding young space experts proposed solutions to this growing issue. Kids in Space is an Australia-first program from The @AndyThomasSpace and @Makersempire, supported by @AusSpaceAgency which… pic.twitter.com/GFASSt1bul
— Blair Boyer MP (@BBoyerMP) July 24, 2024
National Finals in November
The winning team from each state and territory will meet in Adelaide in November for the national Kids in Space showcase at the Australian Space Discovery Centre. There, one team will be announced as the overall national winner of Kids in Space 2024.
