St Joseph’s pupils send a message to the International Space Station

Pupils worked with the Monkton Stargazers

Four pupils from St Joseph’s primary school in Broadstairs have taken part in the European Space Agency’s (ESA). Mission Zero, requiring them to program a special Raspberry Pi called an Astro Pi.

Astro Pi is a small Raspberry Pi computer developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation (RPF), in collaboration with the UK Space Agency.

Astro Pi computers come with a set of sensors and gadgets that can be used to run scientific experiments by means of computer coding.

There are two special Astro Pi’s that have been qualified for spaceflight and are onboard the International Space Station (ISS)

The children had never programmed in Python (a computer language) before but they soon learnt what to do with the help of members from the Monkton Stargazers.

The two teams sent a greetings message to the astronauts which appears on the LED screen beside the temperature in the space station.

The two girls were Isabelle Tighe and Freya Scholefield and the boys were Krystof Turek and Archie Law.