Seventeen young people from Bristol could have code they developed beamed to the International Space Station where it will be run on a specially modified Raspberry Pi single board computer.
Eight teams from the DigiLocal code club that runs across the SouthWest have entered the European Space Agency’s Astro Pi Mission: Zero challenge.
Each program, written in Python, has to send the astronauts a message via the LED matrix display, ready some data from a sensor on the Raspberry Pi, and run within 30 seconds. Successful teams will receive a certificate from ESA stating where the ISS was when their code ran.
“DigiLocal is supporting communities such as the Docklands Youth Project in St Pauls, Bristol, to give their young people access to fantastic opportunities like Astro Pi : Mission Zero,” said Dr John Bradford, chief executive of High Tech Bristol and Bath that runs DigiLocal.
“We’ve supported 8 teams (and counting) of young people to write a short python program that will be beamed to the International Space Station. This is a great opportunity for young people to see how their passion for technology can be realised in the real world. These are opportunities they wouldn’t be aware of without DigiLocal,” he added.
DigiLocal runs 14 code clubs across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and BANES to open up access to a wide range of coding and robotics technology and is always looking for volunteers to help out at www.digilocal.org.uk
