20 March 2015
Year 2 arrived at Satellite Applications Catapult, Harwell, after lunch and were given a warm welcome from Antonia, Dawn and Chris. The boys were given their visitor badges and a safety talk before our role play began!
The scenario: The boys were training to become Satellite Specialists and were being trained for the job. They needed to learn about the parts needed to build a satellite, what satellites can do to help us and how to use satellite images to get information about the planet’s surface.
We were taken to the Saturn Room with a huge video wall that showed us where all the big ships were in the world – the satellites were tracking every one. Chris told us about the parts needed to make a satellite work and how each ship was connected to some satellites. The boys then were asked to make a satellite with solar panels and the ship it communicated with. Chris was very good at explaining what each part was and why it was necessary. The boys certainly got very involved and were talking with the correct terminology about their models in no time at all. Following this exciting activity, the boys were then ‘trained’ to look for physical features on an enormous satellite optical image of Milton Keynes displayed on a VDU wall in the Ops Room. Here the boys were divided into teams to solve clues and identify features in certain locations. They learnt about basic map references and how to locate and record them. At the end of the busy ‘training’ schedule, the boys received a certificate to prove they had successfully undertaken the S.A.Catapult Training Program. We all had a fantastic time.
