Perse students prepare to blast off on space competition mission
Two Perse students are ready for an out-of-this-world experience after being selected to represent the UK in the International Space Settlement Design Competition (ISSDC).
The event will see teams of multi-talented teenagers from across the globe converge on NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in July with the mission of designing a futuristic space colony for humans.
Alexandra (Lower Sixth) will be a member of one of two 12-strong British teams taking part in the ISSDC at Kennedy Space Center in July, having caught the eye of the selectors with her efforts at the UK Space Design Competition (UKSDC) national finals earlier this year.
For the third year in a row, Sai (Lower Sixth) will also be competing at ISSDC – this year as part of the second, self-funded UK team – having represented the country in 2023 and supporting the African representative team in 2024.
Along with a group of fellow Perse students, both were part of a 60-strong ‘company’ called Sapien at UKSDC. They were tasked with establishing Astoria, a hypothetical resource extraction facility in the asteroid belt near Jupiter, considering economic, design, technological and human factors.
Alexandra received the Randall Perry Award – named after the founder of the competition – for quiet leadership for her calmness and clarity in her post as systems engineer.
She explained: “My role was to realise design cohesion across departments, ensuring specification points that addressed overlapping aspects were smoothly resolved by members of different departments and eliminating contradictory approaches.
“Across departments, I helped with brainstorming ideas and problem-solving and working in under-staffed areas to help complete the criteria points.
“Being interested in STEM, I was eager to take part, especially after hearing positive experiences from peers who’d previously participated. I went in with no expectation to receive any sort of award, so I was elated to have been given the Randall Perry Award and a place in the first team to represent the UK at the international competition in Florida.
“It was a fulfilling and rewarding experience that I’d recommend to any curious students and a wonderful opportunity to meet like-minded individuals.
“I’m overjoyed by the thought of visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and meeting competitors from across the world. The idea of representing the UK on a global arena is both exciting and daunting, but I’m look forward to the preparation sessions and I am very grateful to my teacher Dr Goodson, who made it all possible, and to my friends for their support.”
Although Sai is no stranger to ISSDC, he was thrilled that he will be joined by another Perse student at this summer’s competition and praised Alexandra for her efforts at UKSDC.
He said: “At UKSDC, I was president of our company for what was a very interesting proposal that required looking at from a different perspective.
“We realised quite early we weren’t getting too far with what we were trying to do, so we pivoted and tried to make sure there was a consistent vision across every department because what you have to present at the end is a sales pitch.
“A systems engineer isn’t a role you have every time, but I realised Alexandra was a good fit for that role because she’s a really good communicator and technician, so she was there to bridge the gaps between departments and she did very well.”
Sai felt he had learned a lot from his previous experiences at NASA, which he hopes will pay dividends with his team this time around.
He said: “I’m so grateful to be going again because it’s an incredibly fun experience and there’s a lot of different things to take away from it.
“One of the main things I found from going into a leadership position last year was everyone takes it seriously and there’s no slacking off. You have a lot of people who are really interested and want to jump into things, so it’s about finding bottlenecks in your departments, managing good communication between them and figuring what needs to be done at the right time. What I want to do is make sure everyone’s opinion is equally considered.
“Last year was very challenging because I was also trying to do a lot of technical things myself, but I feel a lot more comfortable this year.”