News

Stargazing Night Report

Date: Thursday 28th November 2024

Venue: The Westwood Academy

Following a successful startup on 10th October 2024, the ‘Chippy Chip Space Program’ NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge Team, were able to host another outdoor stargazing event. This event fostered an interest in the local community in astronomy. We had a total of approximately 60 individuals attend this event.

Alongside the main constellation event, we also hosted a rover challenge with ‘Bob the Rover’, challenging individuals to navigate the robot around an obstacle course. This promoted critical thinking under time limit, with a wide range of turns and obstacles in the way. We also have some individuals who volunteered to provide their own telescope for star gazing.

This event was also hosted by The Westwood Academy’s event catering team, led by Miss Habbits. Herself and her catering team were able to provide an exceptional selection of food and drink, consisting of hot chocolate, mulled juice and space-themed sweet treats. The CCSP team greatly appreciates the catering team for their hard work and determination at the event, allowing an excellent turnout to be achieved.

Overall, this event turned out to be another tremendous success for the Chippy Chip Space Program team and will assist them in their current challenge in the NASA HERC competition. We thank all individuals who attended the event, and everyone who helped in any aspect of the event.

Live presentation to NASA

The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge Team have done themselves proud on the 5th December they presented live to NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration via teams and pitched there design for the Rover, which was very well received. The next major milestone they have complete is the construction phase which will take place in January.

The team are representing the school proudly and all I can say is that each one of them is a Star shining bright in the skies above.

We would like to thank our sponsors and all who have contributed

Active Mobility, Cllr Rachel Lancaster and the Lord Mayor of Coventry, University of Warwick, B and Q, Rotary Club of Kenilworth , Parents who are supporting us, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

We are waiting to hear from other sponsors and organizations but if you would like to support Chippy Chips Space Program, we are the only school in the whole of the UK , who have been accepted and competing in this very prestigious international competition please contact Mr. J Suther, Team Advisor and founder of the Space Rocket and Robot Club at The Westwood Academy

Trip to School of Engineering

On Friday, December 13th, 2024, the team was invited to visit the University of Warwick School of Engineering. During the visit, they had the opportunity to discuss their design with staff members from various departments. They also enjoyed a tour of the state-of-the-art facilities, where they observed advanced engineering machinery. Overall, the experience proved to be incredibly enriching, the team took away new ideas for the next phase of their NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge