From the 8th of July to the 12th of July, two of YIN members visited the Bush Capital Lodge (BCL) in Canberra to participate in the YMCA’s Space Squad. Within the 5 days and 4-night stay, there were beds, bathrooms, showers and food accommodated for the residents stay, also courting for any medical needs/ special dietary requirements anyone may have.
Image of the area they stayed at
The members of YIN took part in many activities starting with a trip to Mount Stromlo for a stargazing night as well as a presentation and tour of the observatory located on the mountain by Brad Tucker, there was also a presentation on spectrums by Astro 3D and galaxy collisions by the observatory director along with corresponding activities.
The next day, they traveled to Questacon’s Maker Space for a workshop where they learned the innovation process following a trip to Questacon where many activities were held and a presentation on the life on Mars.
Image of the marble ball runs made by students in an industry run by Questacon
On their third day, they programmed moving balls called Sphero, learned the mathematics behind rocket launching using 11 and 12 graded math and traveled to UNSW to learn about astrophysics by university students and workers.
The following day included an activity to make a marble land into a bowl on a zip line, which was supposed to resemble dropping down a rove on the moon, then having a moon landing tour of Canberra including a visit to John Saxon, a tracker on the first moon landing mission, as the moon landing mission is having its 50th anniversary, as well as a visit to Honeysuckle Creek where the 26m dish caught the first 8min of the moon landing and that was followed by a trivia.
Young Innovators Club Members
The final day had an introduction to Moon shot thinking and presentations from the space squad participants to show what in space excites them most using their own personal medium which then was followed by a short award hand-out. Our 2 YIN members received awards for their completion of the rocket launching and one received a 1/200 scaled rocket which is to be NASA’s new SLS Rocket.
Prizes Given to Our Members:
“It was eye-opening and provided me with a bright and more clear idea of what kind of future career I would want to pursue, where while working with people who have similar goals as me, I can also continue my learning for something I’ve developed a passion in” One of the members commented. They really learnt a lot about how simple activities relate to the vast space and has given them much more to ponder about not only about space but also their future. Both of them have also mentioned that they would definitely do something like this again.
Space Squad Group Photo: