St Mary’s RC School, in Barnard Castle, beat 60 other schools to win Newcastle Life Science Centre’s Space Explorers’ Moon Base Challenge.
The competition was launched to celebrate the centre’s 25th anniversary and saw pupils aged between nine and 11 being given a box of materials and a lesson plan to build a model of a future moon base and put it through its paces in a series of challenges.
Ten finalist schools were invited to the centre on Monday, where St Mary’s was judged the winner.
The judging panel said: “Wow! I can see how much effort has gone into creating this moon base. You should feel incredibly proud of your efforts.
“You have considered all aspects of living on the moon – how harsh living there would be, zero gravity, communication, getting supplies and power to the base, growing food, making sure there’s plenty of space inside, and more.”
Life chief executive Linda Conlon said: “Many schools across the region are in rural or urban deprived areas. Our Space Explorers programme reaches children who may have never considered space science as a future career option.
“The Moon Base Challenge project offers these kids a new and exciting hands-on way to do just that. The creativity and thoughtfulness in the entries has been fantastic.”
Life’s Space Explorers programme, funded by the UK Space Agency and Edina Trust, targets schoolchildren in underserved areas to inspire them to consider the breadth of career opportunities available in the expanding UK space sector.
The programme includes a visit to the school from the Life team with their mobile planetarium, a day in the science centre – including time in Space Zone – and a curriculum linked space workshop.
The pupils also get the opportunity to have live online chats with scientists working in space-related industries.
