Programming for Space - Astro Pi Workshop - Part Two

“Brighten up the daily routine of the astronauts on the International Space Station.” - Cheer up the everyday life of astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). That is the goal of the Mission Zero project, which we worked on together on January 29.

A total of six children and young people took part. It was about the ISS. It was about temperature, humidity and pressure measurements using appropriate sensors. It was about Python programming on Raspberry Pi’s. And on top of that: The workshop took place in cooperation with a South African CoderDojo! Before the programming started, we were able to introduce ourselves to each other in a video call. Partners were found straight away who will send their project together to the astronauts on the ISS.

And then it started! You only have 15 seconds for your message. What message are you conveying to the astronauts? Maybe with a small picture?

Seeing your own code implemented directly as glowing LEDs was a real highlight. You can also try out one or two silly ideas in between. The international event that was taking place online at the same time slipped completely into the background. After a good, exciting, productive hour, all participants were exhausted but happy with the results. Just a quick finishing touch… We all underestimated the time it would take to combine the results with those of the ninjas from the CoderDojo South Africa. It was nice to be able to exchange ideas with the partners in person via video call. But at the end it was high time to upload the joint productions.

We thank all the hard-working ninjas and are happy for the astronauts on the ISS. At the beginning of June, the European Space Agency ESA will publish a final report on its website (https://www.esa.int/Education/AstroPI ).

We look forward to welcoming you back to one of our workshops soon!