In July this year, 21 students and 3 teachers representing 4 different schools travelled to the USA to compete in the International Space Settlement Design Competition.
After a week and a half of preparation visiting sites such as Kennedy Space Centre (Florida) and the Smithsonian Institute (Washington D.c.), the Australian team joined over 100 other students from countries such as Uruguay, England, India and Pakistan to compete.
This year’s competition required teams to design a human settlement on Mars, located in the giant chasm known as the Valles Marineris. Although neither of the Australian teams won, they performed very strongly and represented their schools and nation creditably. All students gained enormously from the experience and this will no doubt continue to boost the high standard of the local competition.
