Young people travelled from opposite ends of the UK to attend the Rockets for All Winner’s Trip to Imperial Space Lab.
Glennifer High School from Scotland, and Brighton Aldridge Community Academy met at the Blackett Laboratory, the Physics building at Imperial which houses the Imperial Space Lab, London.
The two winning schools took part in Rockets for All in January 2025, attending a digital skills workshop with industry professionals working in the Space Sector. Both schools ran outstanding water rocket competitions with their peers, learning about rocketry and propulsion and building valuable soft skills.
“It was really fun working with the Year Sevens. A lot of work went into our competition and it was great to see the results.”
“When my class found out they had won the competition they made so much noise that we didn’t hear the other winning schools name!”
The students explored the university, listening to interactive lectures with Dr Simon Foster, Solar Physicist and Engagement Lead at Imperial Space Lab and Dr Tamlyn Peel, Head of Remote Medicine. Then Imperial Space Lab opened their doors and guided students around four different Labs, going behind the scene where important parts are made for future space projects, exploring the Royal School of Mines and the topic of Lunar Mining, meeting the Imperial Rockery Team who build and fly their own rockets and visiting the Lab of Helen O’Brien where satellites are being built for future European Space Agency (ESA) missions.
“Imperial is bigger than I thought! London is bigger than I thought! Coming here has shown me different opportunities that can happen if you try your hardest.”
“I’ve been to a university before but never in London.”
Finally students were inspired with a final talk from Dr Philippa Mason, a key player in the EnVision mission to Venus. Philippa spoke about the exciting opportunities available to explore this distant planet and the work she is doing on the Science Teams for both ESA and NASA.
Rockets for All had a key objective of introducing more young people to the work of rocketry competitions and careers in the Space Industry. The students attending this prize trip left feeling inspired.
“Space careers felt out of reach to me but the way it has been explained today made it feel more realistic.”
“Maybe I would like to work in space! Seeing the Labs has sparked inspiration.”
Big Ideas would like to thank Imperial Space Lab, and in particular Simon Foster, for the Prize Trip Opportunity.
Rockets for All was funded by the UK Space Agency, in partnership with Imperial Space Lab.