The Powerhouse has announced a space-based virtual and real-world learning experience designed to connect Western Sydney high school students with the International Space Station. Through an innovative collaboration between the Powerhouse, Magnitude.io and the NSW Department of Education, students will be challenged to use NASA-inspired design thinking techniques to develop their own space and Earth-based experiments.

The Powerhouse: Future Space program was launched at a local participating school, Arthur Phillip High School on Friday 1 April by the new Head of the Powerhouse Parramatta Lang Walker Family Academy Sophie Poisel, STEM Project Advisor Dr Scott Sleap, and Sue Walker. It is the first program to roll-out in high schools under the auspices of the Powerhouse Parramatta Lang Walker Family Academy, made possible by the Walker Family Foundation’s $20 million gift announced in 2021. 

The launch of the Powerhouse: Future Space program was also attended by Badri Younes, NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator and Program Manager for Space Communications and Navigation, who oversees NASA’s three space communications networks – the Space Network, Near Earth Network, and Deep Space Network. Younes presented on current – and future – space communications technologies like optical and quantum communications for Arthur Phillip High School and East Hills Girls Technology High School students, who are also participating in the program. 

The program connects Stage 5 students (Years 9 and 10) from six Western Sydney local government areas to a global network of learners through the ExoLab-10 mission. The 2022 mission ‘Carbon Farmer’ uses scientific enquiry to teach students about the importance of the carbon cycle on Earth and in space. Students will become climate change solutionaries by experimenting with growing alfalfa in the classroom. By conducting their own ground trials in line with an active experiment on board the International Space Station they can compare data on effective methods for growing crops in microgravity to sustain future space missions and help filter carbon dioxide from the air for astronauts on long space flights. 

Powerhouse: Future Space will be delivered in tandem with the Powerhouse: Design For Space Challenge as part of the newly developed newly developed iSTEM Department Approved Elective. Throughout the three-year program, high schools across NSW will have the opportunity to design and produce their own prototype ExoLab device, simulating a space mission to the International Space Station. The most successful prototype will be launched as early as 2024. Maitland Grossmann High School and Murrumbidgee Regional High School will be involved in a virtual pilot of the program.

“The Powerhouse: Future Space program offers Western Sydney high school students a unique opportunity to directly engage with the International Space Station and their peers conducting virtual trials across Australia and around the world. We’re grateful to Powerhouse Parramatta’s Lang Walker Family Academy for enabling distinctive and richly deserved educational opportunities and vocational pathways for Western Sydney students,” said The Hon. Dr Geoff Lee, Member for Parramatta.