THE Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) Brunei Young Professional Section (YPS) and Oil and Gas Discovery Centre (OGDC) Brunei conducted an ‘IET Faraday Do-It-Yourself Mission To Mars Challenge’ for St George’s School students on April 23.
According to a press release, the challenge was for students aged 15 years old and below.
Among the aims of the challenge was to give students the opportunity to research, design and make prototype solutions to genuinely tough engineering problems.
This is in-line with the IET Brunei vision and mission in promoting the general advancement of science, engineering and technology and to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas on these subjects among the general public, especially students.
The activity was designed for six teams of six students (36 students in total) in Years 7 to 8 and was based on the IET Faraday Challenge events held at secondary schools in the United Kingdom.
Students setting up their rocket
Students were given tasks as engineering specialists recruited by a mock company called, ‘Make it 2 Mars’, to establish a human settlement on the planet Mars by 2023.
Students were asked to design and construct a rocket which will transport supplies via Earth’s orbit to the astronauts on Mars, as well as build a system to transport their rocket to the launch site for testing.
The whole exercise gave the students insight into the roles and responsibilities of an engineering team as they not only attempted to create their prototypes but then had to justify their ideas, costs and implementation plans to the judges.
The challenge also encouraged the development of students’ problem solving, team working and communication skills.
The winner of the competition received a $120 cash prize, which was sponsored by
OGDC.
The prize was presented by Simon Leong Kian Ann, the IET Brunei Darussalam chairperson for 2014-2016 session.
Meanwhile, IET and OGDC thanked all volunteers especially the students from Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) who supported the event.
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