Australian Space Design National Finals: A Team Effort

14 Feb 2019

SpaceDesign4

Throughout 2018, 16 students from a combined PMHS and Catherine McAuley Westmead Campus team met weekly to prepare a submission into the qualifying round of the Australian Space Design Competition (ASDC). It was the first time either school had competed in ASDC, and after what could best be described as a struggle with the project brief, the team pulled through, and was selected as one of the top ten teams from 23 entrants. Subsequently, we qualified for the National Finals of the Competition, sending our combined team to the University of Queensland on the 18th of January 2019.

Our final team consisted of twelve dedicated students:

Nathan Khoury
Jaymes Formosa
Jack Valentino
Thomas Reid
Henry Asokan
Julian Carbone

Brooke Buttenshaw
Avegail Matutina
Tram Nguyen,
Martha Kassis,
Abigail Danao and
Anjaly ElizabethMathews.

We were warmly welcomed by Lachlan Young, the President of ASDC. Lachlan mentioned how he was extremely impressed with our qualification project, and that he thought we would have a fantastic chance at winning the qualification through to the global event in 2019. We settled into our accommodation, enjoyed a roast dinner and took a stroll around the campus lake and across the neighbouring bridge to a lookout by the Brisbane river. It was the calm before the storm.

We were woken the next morning to the sound of students playing piano in the communal area at St Leo’s College. We spoke with other teams over breakfast, but there was certainly a strong sense of competition in the air. Our partner school was announced to be St Laurence's, a Queensland school with a long history in the competition. Together we formed a company called ‘Centaurus’. Then, at 10:30am, the project brief was announced. The task: to design a feasible space habitat in which collects orbital debris holding 600 inhabitants, to be deployed in the year 2044. We had 30 hours to complete our proposal. We spent most of our time in the company room, working away in each of our company divisions in a corporate structure. When the company room closed at 10pm, many of us chose to work through the night.

We presented our 40 page tender at 3pm on Sunday. In all honesty, many of us should have got more sleep. That said, we were extremely confident that we had solved the many problems listed as “minimum requirements” in the tender document, and we had a strong narrative about sustainability to help sell our proposal to the judges. None of the presenters were allowed to watch previous presentations, so we expected relatively standard questions. While our presentation was slick, the seven judges asked questions about catastrophic collisions and dietary requirements of the crew. This was entirely unexpected, and seemed to be inconsistent with what we later learned was asked of other teams. That said, we had hoped that the judged had earmarked us for especially difficult questions because we had confidently met the tender requirements, solving many associated problems along the way. Unfortunately, we might have been optimistic in this assessment, as the national final was later awarded to Team Magellan. We left the auditorium devastated, but left proud of what we had achieved in our first year in the competition.

Along the journey not only did all members of the team gain new insight into a wide range of leading scientific paths, but built friendships and a spark for the analytical. Participating in this competition yielded many great opportunities, such as conversing with world-class engineers from Boeing, further enhance our collaboration and communication skills, and being given the opportunity to participate in a real-life industry simulation. Our combined team was far stronger together than if we were apart, and we hope to build this partnership to see our students venture to the world final in coming years.

Huge thanks go to our principals, Mr Pauschmann and Mrs Richmond, and our teachers, Mrs Sheldon Collins, Mr Phillips, Mr Bortoluzzi and Mr Johnson. We received constant support throughout the qualification, and during the National Finals. We recognise that many school students are not afforded such amazing opportunities, and appreciate that we attend excellent schools.

If you’d like to try out for the ASDC team, please email Mr Phillips: jphillips13@parra.catholic.edu.au