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KATHERINE'S MISSION TO MARS
A STUDENT at Queen Elizabeth II High School has come back down to earth after a visit to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in America.
Katherine Lawrie was awarded a scholarship to study at NASA's International Space School in Houston, Texas.
The scheme is organised by Mansat Ltd, a firm with bases in Onchan, London and Houston, providing business services to the international space industry.
To qualify for the scholarship 17-year-old Katherine wrote three essays looking at how the Island can contribute to the space industry, why she is interested in the industry and how it can help humanity.
She first became interested in space through astronomy.
'The sky is so clear here. There are some nights so many stars are visible you can't even make out the constellations,' Katherine, of Rhenny Road, Greeba, explained.
The first week of the trip was spent in lectures and visiting space museums. In the second week she worked with other students to organise a hypothetical mission to Mars.
Students were divided into groups, each responsible for a different part of the mission ranging from building the base and deciding what equipment to take to planning how to get to Mars and back.
'The emphasis was on getting back because the previous year they only looked at getting there,' Katherine said.
She was part of the 'living there' team with responsibility for designing the habitat and life support systems including food, oxygen and water.
Her group was also responsible for personnel and selected the crew for the mission to Mars.
Katherine is in the second year of studying A-level maths, physics, chemistry and art and hopes to go to Oxford University to study physics.
'In terms of our project it was more structured and more intense than education here. It was fun to work on something I really enjoyed,' she said.
'But it was difficult to find research on the project because it's never been done before.'
During the trip she visited Mission Control. One of the highlights was seeing a neutral buoyancy lab where astronauts dive into a pool 40 feet deep with a prototype of the space station inside so they can practise making repairs.
Astronaut Nicole Stott, wife of Onchan man and co-founder of Mansat Ltd Chris Stott, gave Katherine her class patch, which is used to identify a group of astronauts who trained together and is worn on their space suits.
'The opportunity to look around NASA was great. I would love to do that as a career.
'It was exciting to meet astronauts and people that you read about or have seen on the television,' Katherine said.
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Weather for Isle of Man
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 3 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 7 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: South west
