7 May 2019
The threat of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was brought into focus by the incidents which closed Gatwick Airport – however, the threat from small ‘mini’ UAVs is possibly an ever bigger danger. How to deal with these mini UAVs is the subject of this year’s Schools Aerospace Challenge.
The Schools Aerospace Challenge helps 16-18 year olds enter the real world of aviation and engineering, with the chance to attend a residential summer school packed with exclusive events and experiences, and prizes of up to £3,000.
The 2019 challenge is to explore the nature of any potential threat posed particularly by small UAVs and to conceive and develop pragmatic solutions or countermeasures to these threats.
The solutions should be both practical to produce and economically sensible to deploy. They should be designed to ensure that the UK’s infrastructure remains safe from potential threat.
Teams from schools, Air Training Corps and other youth organisations can enter. Teams must include three members, supported by an adult sponsor from their school, Air Training Corp squadron or other recognised youth organisation. Each team must submit their final design solution on no more than five sides of A4 by 1 June 2019.
The top 12 entries will be selected by a panel of judges, the Challenge Directors. Shortlisted teams will be notified by mid-June and invited to attend a week-long aerospace experience Summer School on Cranfield University campus been 21 – 26th July 2019.
It’s an exclusive opportunity to enter the world of aerospace, including the chance to fly and to gather flight data on-board the National Flying Laboratory’s Jetstream ‘flying classroom’. Individual team performance at Cranfield counts towards the overall selection of the winning teams. The teams will receive their prizes (£3,000 for the winners and £1,000 each to the two runners up) at an awards ceremony at the prestigious Institution of Mechanical Engineers headquarters in central London.
