Daisy Richardson, former pupil who now works at B2Space.
Space was brought a little closer to earth for students at one Derby school as they welcomed back a former pupil now working in the space industry.
To mark World Space Week 2022, Allestree Woodlands School hosted a range of events, including an assembly with former pupil Daisy Richardson.
Daisy took part in CanSat, an engineering space competition run by ESERO-UK, while she was studying at the school. It catapulted her career, leading to her job as a Junior Aerospace Engineer for UK based satellite launcher company, B2Space.
Greg Duffy, Assistant Headteacher at Allestree Woodlands School, has entered the school into the CanSat competition nine times.
The national competition tasks pupils to design and build their own simulation of a real satellite, integrated within the volume and shape of a soft drink can. The challenge for students is to fit all the major subsystems found in a satellite, such as power, sensors and a communication system, into this minimal volume. After building their “CanSat”, teams are invited to launch events across the UK to launch them on small rockets, with their CanSats returning to Earth using a parachute designed by the students.
In 2018 and 2019, the school’s team won the UK competition and went on to the European final. Daisy Richardson was a member of the 2018 winning team.
She said: “The school has helped me massively. I came to Allestree Woodlands in sixth form so I didn’t know anyone and I saw one day that there was a CanSat meeting so I went along and kind of fell in to it.” The team went on to win the UK competition, going on to the European finals in the Azores.
“Basically, after that, opportunities flew in,” said Daisy, 22.
Inspired by the competition, she went on to do a degree in Physics with Astrophysics at the University of Leeds and had intended to stay on to study a masters.
However, it was her former school that continued to open doors for her.
“Mr Duffy invited me back to do lots of different things at the school, like presentations and talks about CanSat,” said Daisy. “Then in 2019 I got invited to a space conference in Wales. NASA was there and I got to meet Tim Peake. I was there as part of CanSat to talk to companies about how they could support the competition. When I went back to university, I did start thinking more about space research and then I heard about an internship so I put my CanSat competition all over my application and that’s how I got an internship with B2Space.”
When her three-month internship ended, Daisy, who lives in Ilkeston and mainly works from home for the Newport-based company, asked if she could stay on. B2Space snapped her up and she has now been with them a further year.
Her physics degree is being put to good use as she analyses the trajectories and paths of the specialist “balloons” they send 40kms above the earth’s surface, taking up satellites for companies and testing different projects in near space conditions.
Daisy has also designed unique systems to predict the flight path of their “rockoons”. These are balloons from which rockets can be launched – allowing the cost of sending rockets into space to be reduced by taking them nearly into space before they even have to fire up.
Daisy said inspiring pupils at Allestree Woodlands about space was something she loved to do.
“I think space will always be cool, so it is very inspiring for people,” said Daisy. “Basically, anything you do for space is new. The technology is new and everything you are working on is the newest version so it is always exciting. Also, the UK space industry is really booming so it’s an exciting time to be involved.”
Since the competition, Allestree Woodlands School has established a rocketry club and various special events to support STEM subjects. As part of celebrating Space Week, the school also enjoyed a virtual presentation from Matt Bothwell, an astronomer and space communicator based at the Institute of Astronomy and the Kavli Institute for Cosmology in Cambridge.
Daisy said she would encourage students to take part in all the opportunities available.
“I kept saying yes to things, and that’s what got me my job,” she said. “I accepted any opportunity that was open to me, to do talks, take part in competitions. Since winning CanSat there are even more of those opportunities available at Allestree Woodlands so I would encourage everyone to take those opportunities.”
Mr Duffy, who is already working with this year’s CanSat team at the school, said: “CanSat always makes our students stand out at interview. We’ve placed students with Rolls Royce for degree apprenticeships, into UK space industry internships and also into university pathways. All have talked about CanSat in their applications. CanSat has sparked conversations, opened doors for students and schools, and provided opportunities to engage students who may never have seen themselves as being able to achieve in this way without the challenge.”
Mr Duffy said it was fantastic to welcome back Daisy and see more pupils inspired.
“Tapping into pupils’ fascination with space can be an excellent way to introduce scientific principles and inspire a love of science and it’s why we celebrated World Space Week at Allestree Woodlands School,” he said.
ENDS
For more information call Kirsty on 07970627385 or email kirsty@penguinpr.co.uk
