INTERNATIONAL SPACE DESIGN RUNNERS-UP
Winning the UK Space Design Competition national final was just the first step for talented Sevenoaks scientists.
The International Space Settlement Design Competition is a prestigious annual event that challenges high school students between the ages of 15 and 18. They are randomly divided into just four teams, creating a fiercely competitive environment where only one team can claim victory. Every team is given 72 hours to create a complete space settlement from the ground up, covering every facet of space colonisation, from structural engineering and life support systems to business plans and marketing strategies. Teams present their comprehensive proposals to a panel of judges made up of NASA engineers, aerospace industry professionals and academic specialists, who assess projects based on technical viability, innovation and presentation quality.
The four-day challenge was demanding – we worked through several all-nighters to design and simulate a space settlement on Venus capable of mining and collecting gas. The project required everything from complex mathematics to CAD modelling and physics computations. Despite the exhaustion, it was tremendously exciting to delve deeply into aerospace engineering concepts and collaborate with so many intelligent and like-minded students from different countries.
TESSA HELLSTEN( Upper Sixth) and I were chosen to represent the United Kingdom at the International Space Settlement Design Competition at the Kennedy Space Centre( NASA) in Florida in July. This followed a rigorous selection process through regional and national rounds, in which we had competed as part of a larger Sevenoaks team of 12, winning first the regional round in November, then the UK national finals in May. In Florida, we found ourselves among more than 400 competitors from all over the world, including teams from China, India, Eastern Europe, South America, the USA, Australia, Africa and two from the UK.
Our team finished as runners-up in the competition, yet we can all agree that the real prize is the experience itself and the recognition from industry professionals. The experience not only taught us about space technology but also gave us a genuine taste of what it is like to collaborate and innovate under pressure to complete ambitious engineering projects within tight time constraints.
Chelsey Dai, Lower Sixth
16 ACADEMIC REVIEW