Astro Pi: Your Code in Space

Dave: We’re really happy to announce a new project in partnership with British Astronaut Tim Peake, UK Space and the European Space Agency: we’re sending Raspberry Pis to the International Space Station! Read on to find out how to get your code running on them… Leading UK space organisations have joined forces with British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake and Raspberry Pi to offer students a chance to devise and code their own apps or experiment to run in space. Two Raspberry Pi computers are planned to be flown to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Tim’s 6 month mission and both will be connected to a new “Astro Pi” board, loaded with a host of sensors and gadgets. Launched today at an event held by the UK Space Agency, the Astro Pi competition will be officially opened at the BETT conference (21-24 January) and will be open to all primary and secondary school aged children who are resident in the United Kingdom. During his mission to the ISS, Tim Peake plans to deploy the Astro Pi computers in a number of different locations on board the ISS. He will then load up the winning code whilst in orbit, set them running, collect the data generated and then download this to Earth where it will be distributed to the winning teams and ade freely available on the Astro Pi website. Universities, Science and Cities Minister Greg Clark said: The Astro Pi competition is a fantastic opportunity for the students of Great Britain to get involved in a truly inspirational project. So much of modern life depends on handling data effectively and this challenge will help the next generation to have fun whilst learning many important skills that we know industry will need in the future. Through challenges like this, and initiatives like the Government's YourLife campaign, we can illustrate the exciting careers open to those studying STEM subjects. Greg Clark Tim Peake added: I’m really excited about this project, born out of the cooperation among UK industries and institutions. There is huge scope for fun science and useful data gathering using the Astro Pi sensors on board the International Space Station. This competition offers a unique chance for young people to learn core computing skills that will be extremely useful in their future. It’s going to be a lot of fun! Tim Peake Major Tim Peake – photo provided by UK Space Agency under CC BY-ND To help students on their way in developing their code, five inspirational themes have been devised to stimulate creativity and scientific thinking. The themes are Spacecraft Sensors, Satellite Imaging, Space Measurements, Data Fusion and Space Radiation. In the primary school age category, teams will be asked to devise and describe an original idea for an experiment or application which can be conducted on the Astro Pi by Tim during his mission. The two best submissions will get the opportunity to work with the Astro Pi team to interpret their ideas and the crack team at the Raspberry Pi Foundation will then code them ready for flight on the ISS. In the secondary school age group, the competition will be run across three age categories, one for each of Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 (in England and Wales, and their equivalent ages in Scotland and Northern Ireland). In the first phase, competitors can submit their ideas for experiments and applications. At least the best 50 submissions in each age category will win a Raspberry Pi computer and an Astro Pi board on which to code their idea. In phase 2, all teams will develop code based on their original concept and two winning teams will be selected in each age category. The winning teams' code will be readied for flight by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and CGI. As well as having their code uploaded to the ISS, all winning teams will each receive a class set of Raspberry Pi and Astro Pi boards, meet the Astro Pi team and participate in a winners’ event during Tim’s flight. In addition to the main prizes, each of the UKspace companies supporting the project have offered a prize. These prizes will be awarded to the best submission associated with each of the themes, across the age ranges. Launching the Astro Pi computers, and consequently the successful implementation and completion of this competition is subject to nominal progress through the ESA integration programme and operations on-board the ISS. The organisations involved in the Astro Pi competition include the UK Space Agency, UKspace, Raspberry Pi, ESERO and ESA. The UKspace team, led by SSTL, include Airbus DS, CGI, the Space KTN, National Nuclear Laboratory and National Physical Laboratory.   Dave: The Astro Pi board will be a Raspberry Pi HAT and will comprise of the following: Gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer sensor Temperature sensor Barometric pressure sensor Humidity sensor Real time clock with backup battery 8×8 RGB LED display Several push buttons A camera attachment on the first board An infra-red camera attachment on the second board Keep an eye on our blog, the Astro Pi website and @astro_pi on twitter for updates! More information will be made available after the competition launch at BETT in January.

URL: http://www.raspberrypi.org/astro-pi/