Focus on STEM
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With funding from Ayrshire College
Foundation, NATS, Glasgow Prestwick
SpacePort and Ayr Rotary Club, the
popular Mission Discovery programme
returned to Ayrshire in June, as we
welcomed NASA leaders to our
Kilmarnock Campus.
Over 150 secondary school pupils and
college students worked alongside former
NASA astronaut Michael Foale CBE and
NASA HQs Council Executive / Mission
Support and Partnership Councils, Sarah
Murray, at the week-long space school.
Mission Discovery Ayrshire participants
worked in teams to design a viable and
innovative space experiment.
Team 3, otherwise known as ‘Space
Raiders’, won with their idea investigating
‘the photosynthesis of phytoplankton
in microgravity and the generation of
electricity’.
The winning idea will be sent to the
International Space Station in 2018, where it
will be tested by NASA astronauts.
The winning team consisted of:
• Simon Gibbons (Kyle Academy)
• Alex Hill (Queen Margaret Academy)
• Adam Martin (Belmont Academy)
• Lauren McGee (Belmont Academy)
• Jodie McMail (St. Matthews Academy)
• Eva Peters (Grange Academy)
• Lee Salisbury (Garnock Academy)
• Benjamin Sonnet (Auchenharvie Academy)
Congratulations to the winning team and
everyone else who tested their science skills
in the company of leading space experts.
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The magazine of Ayrshire College