Young people tackle Earth's problems from space
Some of the UK’s best and brightest young minds have been awarded for their imaginative ideas to combat global and local problems using space.
CropSafe
Ava Garside, a student from Leeds, was awarded the overall individual prize in the UK Space Agency’s SatelLife Competition and will receive £6,000 for her pin badge which monitors air pollution.
Students from the University of Bath won the overall group prize of £7,000 for their answer to detecting illegal sand mines. These are just two of the winning entries in the Agency’s 4th annual SatelLife Competition.
The SatelLife Competition aims to encourage young people to think about how satellites can enhance our everyday lives and learn more about the diverse carers available in the sector. Ideas during this year’s competition ranged from apps that predict crop health to contact tracing in a pandemic. Those closer to home could see their lives improved with a wrist band to guide and support those with dementia.
British ESA astronaut Tim Peake said:
Satellites are essential to everyday activities. When data collected by satellites are applied creatively, we can look to solve many of the problems we face on Earth.
The UK space sector is an exciting place to work, and jobs in space are not just for astronauts. Careers include analysts, engineers, designers and entrepreneurs, I do not doubt that in the future these exceptional young people will be at the front of the line for these jobs.”
Science Minister Amanda Solloway said:
Satellites play a vital role in all our lives, not just for day-to-day activities like making a phone call or using GPS, but also for tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges such as climate change.
The innovation demonstrated by the SatelLife winners has been truly inspiring and I look forward to watching them and other brilliant young talent develop flourishing careers in our exciting and thriving space industry.”
The next step for these successful winners is to pitch their ideas to a panel of ‘dragons’ at the Harwell Space Cluster in October for the chance to win further prizes. Previous awards have included additional funding, patent advice and invitations to discuss job opportunities as well as introductions to the other relevant experts for further help.
The SatelLife competition has seen previous winners go on to careers in the space sector and continue to develop their idea into reality.
Winning entries
Perfect Sense AQ - Ava Garside (age 14), Leeds
Prize: £6,000. Perfect Sense is a pin badge that monitors air pollution. The badge will combine GPS data and pollution sensors to guide the wearer to a route with better air quality. The pin badge is designed for students in mind with changeable designs to encourage and assist them in walking a healthier path.
SandSpy – Henry Shepherd (age 21), Ken Diep (age 23), Matthew Cliffe (age 23), Bath
Prize: £7,000. Sand is one of the most extracted materials on the planet, from seabeds and rivers. It is vital to the building trade, and desert sand does not have the right properties for this. The legal sand extraction trade is worth around $70 billion - but the illegal trade is significantly bigger. SandSpy will identify where illegal sand extraction is happening using Sentinel data. It will then inform Governments. This project can put a halt to environmental damage, including marine life death, and human fatalities due to landslides.
Runners-up
Safely, Grace Gordon, Emmy Lovegrove, Maddie Watson (all aged 15), Cornwall
Prize: £5,000. This project looks at creating a wristband to support the 20 million UK attendees at festivals every year. As well as being used as a payment mechanism, the band would have a feature for friends to find each other using GPS location. An additional feature of an emergency SOS function would notify festival management and their next of kin if someone were to get into trouble.
Sophisticated Pandemic Algorithm to Contain Epidemics, Jonathan Moore (age 23), Eamon Compston (age 23), Liam Ferris (age 22), Northern Ireland
Prize: £5,000. Jonathan, Eamon, and Liam combined satellite information such as phone data with ground-based data such as plane passenger lists to be able to backtrack people’s movements. The app could be essential to help reduce the spread of a virus.
Cropsafe, John McElhone, Micheál McLaughlin (both aged 19), Northern Ireland
Prize: £5,000. Cropsafe is working together with local farmers to develop a system to alert farmers of a potential blight. The program uses satellite data and sends the farmer a text indicating which field might have a problem.
Eye in the Sky, Antonio Duduianu, Isha Parekh (both aged 21), London
Prize: £5,000. Eye in the sky is an app designed to keep people safe when walking home. It analyses the safest route home using a combination of satellite-derived local crime data, street lighting, and traffic information. The route can also be shared with family and friends, if desired, for added safety.
Project Firefly, Joel White, Joshua Boyd (both aged 21) ,Northern Ireland
Prize: £5,000. The team at Project Firefly used emerging technologies to evolve traditional industries. They identified the pricing of billboards could often be unfair as they are unlikely to reflect the value received in return. By using footfall and weather metrics, the team can formulate an advertising price that is fair and correlates more readily with the value gained.
Charge Finder – Adam Watney (age 15), Norwich
Prize: £4,000. Charge finder will assist people with electric cars to locate the nearest available charging point. If the charge point is too far away for the range of the vehicle, the app will suggest waiting until a more local ‘in use’ location becomes available.
Head Gym– Mason Robinson (age 20), Northern Ireland
Prize: £4,000. Mason developed Head Gym after finding out a friend was coping with mental health issues. Head Gym is an app to support mental health. The app allowed users to record their mental health symptoms, noting trends. Using GPS data to track the location of the user, if they are in the same place for too long, a notification will appear encouraging a walk or exercise.
A GPS app to locate, orientate and integrate people with Dementia - Charlie Stenner (age 13), Dorset
Prize: £4,000. Charlie wants to improve the lives of people with dementia by reducing the number of people who get lost. Charlie’s idea is to have a wristband linked to a phone app to locate a person and their nearest Dementia Friend. The wristband will be big enough to display messages to ask questions such as ‘are you lost?’ and to provide directions to a safe space.