This week is science week, which corresponds with the recent landing of the Perseverance Rover at Jezero crater on Mars, and also with Mars Day this week.
This made for a Mars-focussed science week, and all four science departments have been holding Mars-related activities in lessons for Year 7 and Year 8. In Physics, the pupils have been looking at the Mars Helicopter Ingenuity, investigating the design parameters of rotor blades and parachutes that are used to travel through the Martian atmosphere.
Designing small rotating flyers and parachutes and investigating the changes in flight speeds that result from changes in the design, such as rotor length or parachute diameter. We have also been using augmented reality to look at the design of the actual Mars helicopter and how it would look in our lab.
In Year 8 Physics with Mr Grey, pupils also got the chance to try out a VR headset to have loads of fun and explore the surface of Mars!
The space club also celebrated by taking their planetary rover on its first trip out! This involved a trial run in the school library and the rover performed within its parameters and scooted around the library with ease. We also tried to run it up an incline but realised that we need a battery boost for this, so improving the input power will be our next step. Hugh Plant, Matthew Hamilton, Eva Langman and George Cardrick are our space engineers.
In Computer Science with Dr Miller, our Year 7 & 8 pupils have begun creating a "Mars Lander" game using the Scratch language. Like a real lander, this one needs to be carefully controlled as it descends to the planet's surface; too fast a landing, or careless use of limited fuel, will result in the lander's destruction.
And to continue the commemoration of Science Week in Chemistry, our Year 8 pupils have been learning about the chemical composition of Mars and the possibility of alien life with Mrs Burnman. In said lessons, they have been learning about Regolith, a dusty, pulverized rock layer deposited throughout the solar system over billions of years by asteroid collisions and is what the Mars planet is made up of.
