Two revolutionary Raspberry Pi computers will launch from Cape Canaveral on board SpaceX 24 today to give children and young people the opportunity to conduct their own experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). The “European Astro Pi Challenge: Mission Zero” of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the European Space Agency (ESA) aims to inspire young people to discover their love for programming.
Sensor checks on the ISS
Step by step, you will be guided through the programming of a sensor check on board the ISS and can express your creativity by creating a digital illustration and writing a personal message to the astronauts circling 408 kilometers above the earth. The children and adolescents do not need any previous knowledge of programming or special equipment, they just need a computer with an internet connection. Participation at https://astro-pi.org/ is possible until March 18, 2022 and is already suitable for children from the age of six.
Any eligible participant from any of ESA’s 22 member states or an Associate Member who follows the simple instructions will be guaranteed that their experiment, message and picture will be shown on the ISS. In addition, he will receive a certificate proving when the experiment went into orbit. The new Raspberry Pi computers that hit the market today replace the older “Ed and Izzy” models that have been on the space station since 2015. Since then, 54,000 young people from across Europe and Canada have taken part in the Astro Pi Challenge. Participants in this year’s challenge also have the opportunity to name the new computers.
Mission Zero and Mission Space Lab
In addition to Mission Zero, there is the Astro Pi Challenge Mission Space Lab, which is aimed at young people with programming experience. The teams develop more detailed experiments in schools and programming work groups. The application deadline for this year’s Mission Space Lab has already passed. A record number of 800 teams from 23 countries took part in the experiments. Among other things, the focus was on monitoring the condition of forests, plant erosion, forest fires and climate change – 49 percent of them using machine learning. The most promising teams are supported in developing their ideas before the best experiments are carried out on the ISS.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based charity committed to empowering young people around the world to try computing and digital working. Its aim is to empower young people to use digital technology within a community to solve problems that are important to them and to be creative in the process.
(mack)