HSDC has been building quite a name for itself in the space industry since the launch of its state-of-the-art Space and Satellite Hub at Alton College last October. With a £500,000 grant from the North Hampshire and Surrey Local Skills Improvement Fund, Alton has been able to renovate its facilities to deliver the College’s one-of-a-kind Space Technologies Programme.
This Programme is typically composed of an A Level in Maths, an A Level in Physics and the Extended Certificate in Engineering. However, what makes Alton’s Programme stand out is its links with the big names in the UK’s space industry.
Alongside their A Levels, Alton students on the Programme will have access to groundbreaking facilities in a week-long visit to Surrey Space Centre. On this visit, students will study a Level 4 Programme in Space Engineering, introducing them to the fundamentals of mission design, orbits, launching and tracking.
Recently, HSDC hosted the National Space Academy (NSA) at Alton for a masterclass on Space Technology for students on the programme. This gave students the incredible opportunity to get a closer look at how the space industry in the UK works. They even got to handle real rocks from the moon and Mars, which certainly ticked a few boxes off from their bucket lists.
The visit is just one of the many benefits of the new Space and Satellite Hub at Alton College.
The visit from the NSA is just one of the many ways that HSDC seeks to enrich the education of students, with extracurricular activities playing a key role in supplementing traditional classroom-based learning. The students were even able to apply what they had been learning to design, build, and launch their own miniature rockets!
A student on the day said:
“I really hope we can do something similar again one day, I absolutely loved the experience!”
Ashley Grute, Assistant Principal for Alton’s Curriculum was incredibly impressed with how the visit turned out, saying:
“It was such a great opportunity for our students to experience. It was also really inspirational, with students learning the science behind rocket propulsion and putting that into practice with their own rocket launches! A huge thank you to the NSA for running such a great event!”
This is just one of the ways in which Alton’s new Space and Satellite Hub has revolutionised the education of its students. At the end of April, a group of students will travel to York for the CanSat national final, where they will participate in a small-scale satellite launch!
For more information about the Space Technologies Programme at Alton, please visit: https://www.hsdc.ac.uk/home/space-technologies-programme/