For the first time ever, young people across Europe were invited to take part in an exciting new project giving them the opportunity to conduct scientific investigations in space by writing computer programs to run on Raspberry Pi computers aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The project, Raspberry Pi Mission Zero, which is named after the computers aboard the ISS, is being run by the European Space Agency. The opportunity to get involved was too good to pass up for two of our Fifth Formers, Kevin Xu and Vincent Xiang, who were eager to further their digital learning and be in with a chance to see their code used by astronauts.

The aim of the project was to design a program that could detect moisture from the ISS and give an indication through the Astro Pi computer on whether it was wet or dry.

Kevin explained, “I started with the thought of entering the competition, having learnt about the RGB colour code and how to code for Astro Pi machines in terms of display and timing using Python language. The only problem was working out how to arrange the colour for moisture indication. Vincent teamed up with me and he helped me draw the wet and dry pixel graphs by arranging the colour code together in a nice and neat way.”

Earlier this week, the boys were told that their code has been accepted, and it will be sent to the ISS (in an Astro Pi) to take a humidity reading. It will be launched in May, and the program will be run on the space station later that month. Their program also includes a suggestion on what to name the Astro Pi and they suggested naming it after the famous scientist and codebreaker Alan Turing, who designed technology during World War II that sped up the breaking of the German code (the Enigma), which, ultimately, brought an end to the war.

Alan Turing OBE, Scientist and Codebreaker

It might also be interesting to know that Alan Turing’s father and uncle were both Old Bedfordians. Alan’s grandfather was a vicar in the town, having moved from Rufford, near Nottingham, in order to educate his children at Bedford School. Not only is the name fitting due to the link with Bedford School and Bletchley Park (home of the codebreakers), but also as a celebration of LGBT+ inclusion month.

Kevin told us that Dr Wallace, Director of Digital Learning, helped the boys throughout the project by sending their submissions to the organiser and answering questions relating to the project parameters. This gave the boys a clear idea of what was involved and how to approach the solution.

Dr Wallace said, “Vincent and Kevin were keen to take on this challenge and worked hard to develop some code which was accepted by the European Space Agency. The program will run on a Raspberry Pi computer on board the ISS in May and their message will be seen by the astronauts on board. Truly an exciting achievement that is, quite literally, out of this world.”

If you would like to see the boys’ code you can do so here.

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