Two classes from the district's Surrey Academy of Innovative Learning (SAIL) are celebrating an interstellar victory after winning this year's Lunar Gateway Challenge.
The national competition is hosted by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Steamlabs and Western University and seeks student designs for a lunar robot that would assist astronauts with their exploration of the moon.
One of the SAIL Academy submissions to the Lunar Gateway Challenge
The program is based on the Lunar Gateway project, a moon-orbiting space station currently in development between the CSA, NASA, the European Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.
"This was our first time taking part in this challenge," said SAIL languages and computer science teacher Nermin Abdelmalak. "It was a great activity because it challenged them with not only science, by having to think about different environments on the moon, but also the coding part, which was more technical."
While coding and robotics are already part of the curriculum at SAIL, Abdelmalak noted the Lunar Gateway Challenge challenged students to come up with new and unique applications for an extraterrestrial location.
"They had experience coding and working with different types of sensors but it's very different having to apply that in a lunar setting," she explained. "They had to think about things like navigating the moon's terrain, the temperature and how the gravity might affect things."
Abdelmalak said challenge organizers praised the SAIL students for their attention to detail, which included features such as dust covers to protect sensitive components from debris and a drill embedded within a vacuum in order to break down larger pieces of collected materials, such as moon rocks.
The two winning SAIL classes will enjoy a five-day residency in April that will see STEAM experts holding in-person workshops on coding and robotics at the school. The prize also includes Strawbees and Micro:bit invention kits to use in the classroom.
"We're really excited about the workshops and the kids have been really encouraged by their win," said Abdelmalak. "Before this project, some of our students hadn't really expressed any interest in space, but now they are more excited about it and all the possibilities of designing something to be used there."
To learn more about the Lunar Gateway Challenge, as well as view student submissions, click here.
