Year 12 students in the Isle of Man have the chance to win highly coveted places at the 2024 United Space School in Houston, Texas.
The 2024 USS takes place from July 14-29 and will see young people from around 20 countries work together to plan a crewed mission to Mars.
Scholarships to the USS have been awarded annually to Isle of Man students by River Advisers, formerly known as the ManSat Group, since 2000. The competition is open to the Island’s five high schools and King William’s College. The most recent winners were Daniel Comley from Ramsey Grammar School and David Sargent from Queen Elizabeth II High School in Peel, who attended the 2023 Space School in July.
The USS is run by the Foundation for International Space Education (FISE) and sees the students supported by NASA astronauts, engineers, and scientists.
River Advisers is awarding up to three scholarships for the 2024 competition.
To enter, Year 12 students need to submit written answers to these three questions:
1. Why are you interested in space?
2. How do you think the Isle of Man can contribute to the future of space exploration?
3. How would you improve the safety and sustainability of space exploration?
The answer to each question should be between 500 and 1,000 words in length – quality is better than quantity – and all three questions must be answered.
Answers should be submitted in a single PDF file, by email, to education@mansat.com
The file should be named using the following convention:
firstname-secondname-school.pdf
Entries will be anonymised before judging takes place.
The deadline for entries is 11.59pm on Friday, 12 January 2024, and late entries will not be accepted. The winners will be announced by Thursday, 18 January 2024.
The scholarships to attend the USS are awarded in cooperation with the Department of Education, Sport and Culture (DESC).
Dr Jennifer Stone, Chief Technical Officer at River Advisers, was the first recipient of a scholarship in 2000.
She said: “It is hard to believe that nearly a quarter of a century has gone by since I attended Space School and those are memories that will last a lifetime. Beyond the incredible two-week experience in Houston itself, the students will develop lifelong friendships and establish invaluable contacts within the space industry. This is such a wonderful opportunity for Isle of Man students. We wish those in Year 12 the best of luck and are looking forward to reading the submitted essays.”
Please visit www.unitedspaceschool.org for more information about the Space School and www.riveradvisers.com/scholarship to learn more about the scholarships.