Space fans land at Machrihanish for out-of-this-world event

More than 400 people landed at Machrihanish Airbase Community Company (MACC) Business Park for last week's Mach-23 rocketry competition and space skills workshop.

 

"attachment_975856" "aligncenter" "300"] Members of the community gathered to watch bottle rockets being launched. Photograph: Greg Grogan Media.

 

Now in its third year, the event's highly-anticipated rocketry competition attracted university teams from all over the UK which successfully concluded on Sunday July 2.

 

It brought together rocketry experts, space enthusiasts, industry representatives and the local community for a week of rocket launches, upskilling workshop sessions, networking opportunities and space outreach with the public during the Discover Space UK community open day last Saturday.

 

"attachment_975862" "aligncenter" "300"] Children and adults learned how to make their own bottle rockets. Photograph: Greg Grogan Media.

 

Throughout the event, which ran from June 28 to July 2, participants immersed themselves in a vibrant atmosphere that fostered creativity, innovation and collaboration.

 

Ten rockets were successfully launched, each carrying a small satellite payload and launching as high as 3kms.

 

"attachment_975847" "aligncenter" "300"] Ten rockets were successfully launched during the event.

 

Notable speakers from the Civil Aviation Authority, Space Scotland and the United Kingdom Rocketry Association (UKRA) ran a space skills workshop on Friday, when the students had an insight on permission procedures for large rocket launches in the UK, identification of suitable spaceports and best practice for hybrid rockets.

 

"attachment_975835" "aligncenter" "300"] Crowds in awe of the constellation artwork inside the Dynamic Earth planetarium. Photograph: Greg Grogan Media.

 

The open day featured the students presenting their work, family friendly workshops hosted by the Argyll and Bute digital learning team, an inflatable planetarium courtesy of Dynamic Earth Enterprises Ltd, stalls for local vendors, tables for the students to show their rockets, tabletop activities organised by Discover Space UK and AltaRange, a demonstration of a hybrid rocket by UKRA and three real rocket launches – including a rocket made of Irn Bru cans - in front of an audience of more than 300 members of the public from Argyll and Bute and other parts of Scotland.

 

"attachment_975829" "aligncenter" "300"] A rocket made of Irn Bru cans was launched from Machrihanish. Photograph: Greg Grogan Media.

 

Discover Space UK is grateful to all the competitors, for the help and support from MACC, which played a central role in the delivery of the event, as well as all attendees.

 

“What a wonderful event to have on our doorstep,” said Suzanne Thomson, Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) co-ordinator for Campbeltown, Islay and Tarbert. “Regardless of the rain in the morning, it didn’t dampen the spirit of the community.”

 

"attachment_975850" "aligncenter" "300"] Rotary Club of Campbeltown members Andrew Ronald, Alistair Cousin and Laurens Denson hard at work flipping burgers and cooking hot dogs and bacon for all the competitors and spectators at the open day. The money raised will be used to support local charities.

 

She added: “It was great seeing so many young people from all over Argyll engage in the STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] activities delivered by Argyll and Bute’s digital learning team and the planetarium hosted by Dynamic Earth was amazing.

 

“The students’ rocket launches were exciting and there was a real buzz in the hanger throughout the day.

 

“DYW looks forward to future collaborations with MachLab, Discover Space UK and Exotopic to make Mach-24 community open day an even bigger and more spectacular event.”

 

Simon Nitschke of Argyll and Bute's digital learning team said: “We ran the Sphero Bolt and Green Screen workshops, and both were very well received, with lots of excitement from children, guardians and the university students.

 

“There was a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, with several repeat visitors to both workshops. It was great to see young imaginations at work. We are looking forward to working with MACC again in the future.”

 

The event's ‘VIP’ guest was Carradale Primary School pupil Beth Gilmour, who won the schools’ competition to design a logo for the MachLab.

 

"attachment_975841" "aligncenter" "300"] ‘VIP’ guest Beth Gilmour, photographed with her mum Ailsa, launched a rocket bearing her winning MachLab logo.

 

She and her family were given a tour of the newly-constructed base by Dave Cook, one of the directors of Discover Space UK. Beth was also asked to launch a rocket bearing the MachLab logo.

 

Follow MACC Business Park and Discover Space UK on social media and check out their websites at www.machrihanish.org and www.discoverspaceuk.com for updates on the next steps to Mach-24.