Join the 2021-22 European Astro Pi Challenge featuring brand new hardware

The European Astro Pi Obstacle is back again and better than ever, with new, upgraded Astro Pis that will make it possible for younger folks to operate a wider array of experiments on the Global Area Station (ISS)!

Run by ESA in collaboration with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Astro Pi gives younger individuals the opportunity to compose their individual computer system programs and operate them on two Raspberry Pi desktops on board the ISS

Take part!

The European Astro Pi Obstacle 2021-22 is manufactured up of two complexity stages: Mission Zero and Mission House Lab.

In Mission Zero, younger men and women compose a uncomplicated python plan that can take a sensor reading through and shows a message on the LED display. This yr, participation in Mission Zero also provides you the possibility to vote for the names of the two new computers. Having element can take all over an hour and Mission Zero is open to any person aged 7-19 decades outdated. Just about every qualified entry is assured to operate on board the ISS and participants get an formal certification with the precise time and site of the ISS at the time their plan ran.
Mission Zero opens now and runs right up until 18 March 2022.

Mission Place Lab is for groups of young folks who want to operate their own scientific experiment on the Astro Pi models aboard the ISS. It runs in excess of 8 months in 4 phases, from thought registration to details investigation. The problem is to style and produce a method for a scientific experiment that enhances our knowing of possibly Life on Earth or Everyday living in Place. The very best experiments will be deployed to the ISS, and groups will have the prospect to analyse and report on their results. Uncover out much more on experiment alternatives in this online video. 
To begin, Mission Area Lab workforce mentors can submit their team’s experiment thought by 29 Oct 2021.

What’s new with Astro Pi?

The 1st Astro Pi models have been introduced to the ISS in 2015 as a part of ESA Astronaut Tim Peake’s Principia mission. Since then, 54,000 younger persons from 26 nations around the world have penned code that has run on these specifically augmented Raspberry Pi desktops. Now, it is time for an upgrade…

The new Astro Pi models include:

• Raspberry Pi 4 Product B with 8GB RAM
• Raspberry Pi Substantial Top quality Camera
• Coral Device Studying Accelerator
• Color and luminosity sensor
• Passive Infrared sensor

And they will proceed to have a gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, as properly as humidity, temperature & strain sensors, and an LED matrix.

The new hardware would make it feasible for groups to style new sorts of experiments. With the Raspberry Pi High Excellent Digicam, teams can just take sharper, much more comprehensive images, and, for the very first time, be equipped to get entire color photographs of Earth from space. This will also empower teams to investigate plant overall health with a higher quality optical filter employed in conjunction with the IR-delicate digital camera. Employing the Machine Discovering Accelerator, groups will also be in a position to produce Equipment Studying designs enabling higher-speed, genuine-time processing.

Having into room

The Astro Pi units, in their area-prepared cases of machined aluminium, will journey to the ISS in December on a rocket. After the resupply car or truck docks with the ISS, they’ll be unpacked and wait around to be set up all set for use in 2022.

Preparing the new units for launch has been a major exertion with different collaborators. From circumstance design and style and manufacturing to rigorous flight basic safety verification, like vibration, thermal, and electromagnetic compatibility and susceptibility checks, the Astro Pi’s are lastly all set for flight. In this article is a taster of what that system was like!

Get involved!

Study additional, accessibility undertaking sources and join the European Astro Pi Challenge 2021-22 on the Astro Pi web page. 

Registrations open: 13 September 2021
Deadline for Mission House Lab entry submissions: 29 October 2021
Deadline for Mission Zero entry submissions: 18 March 2022

If you want to know far more about the ESA schooling actions sign-up right here to sign up for us in the live Instruct with House 2021-2022 Facts Session, 22 September at 17:00 CET. We will walk-as a result of each of the yearly ESA college initiatives, delivering you with anything you require to know – how to use, how to get commenced, and far more. In this session we will also announce the new ESA Teach with Space on-line trainings possibilities for primary and secondary instructors and educators, which will open up for registrations quickly. These trainings will go over a array of online resources and classroom assets, facilitated by dwell interactions and complementary Q&A segments.