Back from the Big Bang

Over 70,000 children visited this engineering and science fair held from 16 – 19 March at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham and the RSA Solar Challenge was there. For the four days of the fair the RSA Fellowship stand attracted streams of visitors who experienced the many attractions on offer, all with the theme of flight and solar energy.

The RSA Fellowship is indebted to a number of organisations without whose help it could not have achieved the outstanding success it did. The flight simulator provided by the British Model Flying Association attracted long queues of visitors of all ages hoping that they not only could get their plane airborne but also land safely. By the number of certificates left over at the end of the fair it seems very few landed safely.
Cambridge University ECO Racing Team transported their solar powered car to our stand. November last year it was racing in the notorious 3,000 mile course across Australia where it came 21st out of 46 entries. A great achievement plus a team best result in the seven years it has taken part.

Southampton University constructed, especially for this fair, an interactive display that illustrated the work they are doing with solar energy to supply electricity to remote communication in African.

International Scientific Group, a company specialising in educational equipment, provided a modular tool that demonstrated how wind and solar power is used to create electricity and how it can be stored. The Royal Aero Club provided a scale replica of the Schneider Trophy; they will present it to the winner of the RSA Fellowship Solar Challenge in June.

Not only did these organisations provide exhibits they also provided students as well as teaching staff to talk to the visitors and explain their work. Liverpool University must also be thanked for not only sending a number of students but also sponsoring many of the items needed to brand and brighten the stand. They commissioned a corporate image for the Solar Challenge, provided T shirts with our new logo plus banners and stickers were all provided by them.

Last but by no means least is a big thank you to Engineering UK without whose help we could not have had a presence at what is, for young students, the biggest engineering fair in Europe.  It was a marvellous opportunity for those involved with the RSA Fellowship Solar Challenge to interact with primary and secondary schools and to invite them to join this challenge.

Find out more about the Solar Challenge and how you can take part this year.

Any questions? Contact the project lead, Sam Rakusen: [email protected]