PADUKA Seri Begawan Sultan Science College (Maktab Sains) received a $300 cash prize and a certificate for winning the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Faraday Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ‘Mission to MarsV2.0’ Challenge held recently at the Oil and Gas Discovery Centre (OGDC), Seria.
The two runners-up were St George’s School and St Andrew’s School, who received cash prizes of $180 and $120 respectively, presented by Simon Leong Kian Ann, the IET Brunei Darussalam Chairperson for 2014-2016 session, according to a press release.
Some 36 Year 7 to Year 9 students, comprising six teams from six schools, took part in the competition that saw the teams design and build a prototype air-powered rocket that can carry payloads (one heavy and one fragile) and launch above three metres.
Students also have to design and build a prototype transport system with lightings to transport the rocket from the rocket workshop to the launch site in a straight line and stop after three metres. Finally, they have to present and test the prototype transport system and rocket as a whole.
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 work and communication skills.
The team from Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Science College, winner of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Faraday Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ‘Mission to MarsV2.0’ Challenge
According to the press release, “Humans have been exploring the Earth for many years, travelling abroad for holidays, organising explorations to the top of the mountains, to the poles of the Earth and to the bottom of oceans.” The competition asks the question of what would happen when the spirit of expedition is turned to another planet such as Mars.
Students were tasked to “design and construct a rocket which will transport supplies via Earth orbit to the astronauts on Mars, as well as building a system to transport their rocket to the launch site for testing,” the release said.
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