A competition for children and young people to design their own mission patch will now see three winning designs launch into space.
Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Council launched the competition ahead on the STARS24 event, aimed at encouraging more young people to take an interest in STEM subjects. The competition saw over 380 designs sent in with three lucky winners announced on the day.
Following a day of learning and discovery at Machrihanish Business Park where young people took part in a range of STEM workshops including virtual space walks, learning about space junk and satellites, parachutes and designing rockets, the day ended with the rocket launch. All three winning designs were successfully launched a mile into the sky.
STARS24 mission patch competition winners
Lower Primary
Mercy - Lochnell Primary School, Oban
Upper Primary
Leah – Castlehill Primary School, Campbeltown
Secondary winner
Chloe - Hermitage Academy, Helensburgh
Blue Origin, a leading space company has now offered to send the winning mission patches to space on a future launch. They will stamp the patches with ‘Flown to space’ and then return them to the winners as a fantastic and unique keepsake.
Councillor Audrey Forrest, Policy Lead for Education:
“The Space sector is the fastest emerging industry in Scotland so this is a great time for young people and children to explore how STEM subjects can open up exciting opportunities for them. Thank you to everyone who entered the space mission patch competition and congratulations to our three winners. What an opportunity to take their designs into space. We hope the STARS24 event has inspired future generation experts across Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute.â€