Marlborough student gains trip to space camp in Norway

Marlborough Boys’ College student Reuben Dempster will be flying off to Norway at the end of July, to attend a European Space Camp at the Andøya Space Center.

Dempster is one of only two New Zealand students selected for the camp in the north of the Scandinavian country, at which the best lecturers in Europe speak on topics as diverse as rocket physics, and the northern lights.

The other student is Spencer Cleland, of St Peter’s School, Cambridge.

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The trip was made possible by the Royal Society Te Apārangi which selected 15 students out of 200 applicants from around the country to attend the space camp as well as other international science events.

“Not only is this a great opportunity for talented young New Zealanders to interact with experts at the top of their fields in science, but it is also an occasion for students to meet other like-minded students from around the world,” Royal Society Te Apārangi chief executive Paul Atkins said.

“We are delighted to be sending students to international science events again after a three-year hiatus due to the Coronavirus pandemic.”

Dempster and Cleland will learn what it is like to be a scientist and tackle such topics as Rocket System Design, Experimental Instrumentation, Payload, Rocket Telemetry and Rocket Physics.

The highlight of the week will be a rocket launch after which the students analyse the results. The European Space Camp runs from July 30 to August 6.

Thirteen other students have been selected to attend other science camps: Five will go to The Harry Messels International Science School in Sydney for two weeks, three to the London International Youth Science Forum, and five, including Alysssa Burt of Motueka High School, will attend a forum in Melbourne run by the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS).