The Andy Thomas Space Foundation, along with project supporter The Australian Space Agency, and delivery partner Makers Empire, are proud to present the following coverage of the third year of this exciting education program.
The Kids in Space Program engages primary school students in STEM learning and promotes awareness of careers in the space industry through real-world projects. This initiative offers an exciting opportunity to integrate space-themed STEM education into classrooms and inspire the next generation of innovators.
In 2024, the project engaged around 16,000 primary and middle school students, hundreds of teachers, and over 115 independent and Catholic schools across metropolitan, regional, and remote areas. Notably, 49% of participating schools were located in regional, rural, and remote communities, while 44% had an Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) value below 1000, highlighting the program’s strong reach into disadvantaged and geographically diverse communities.
Culminating in project showcases, students presented their responses to the design thinking challenge:
Design something that might help astronauts to work and live in space or use space technologies to design something that will help solve a problem on Earth.
The Kids in Space state/territory finals and showcase events are designed for schools to come together to share their learning, and to listen to guest speakers from the space industry. Schools were eligible for prizes awarded by both guests judges and their fellow students. Teams selected by the judges won a trip to Adelaide to compete in the national Kids in Space showcase at the Australian Space Discovery Centre in November.
The 11 Northern Territory schools participating in Kids in Space – Sattler Christian College, Larrakeyah Primary School, Leanyer School, Manunda Terrace Primary School, Good Shepherd Lutheran School Leanyer Campus, Mataranka School, The Essington School, Girraween Primary School, Woodroffe Primary School, Katherine School of the Air and Ross Park Primary School – came together on June 13th for the territory finals and showcase at Woodroffe Primary School.
Judges were Geneveive Donohue, Teaching and Learning Services STEM advisor at NT Education Department; Amber Jarrett, Principal Adviser (NT) at the Minerals Council of Australia; Liz Fell, Project Manager-Defence at BGIS Asia Pacific; and Abdul Khan, Engineering Services Manager at Nova Systems Australia and New Zealand.
The NT State Winner was Sattler Christian College. In order to combat pollution, the student from Sattler Christian College designed three robots with different abilities to clean up pollution and rubbish.
Skybot flies and identifies areas to clean, then communicates to Mud Bot and Robbish who collect rubbish and sort for recycling. Their concept incorporates current space technologies including rocketry, GPS, satellite communication and radio.
Leanyer School was awarded the student-voted peer prize, with their design solution: a set of space-debris collecting rockets called Cassopeuis (Queens of the Sky)
Congratulations to both schools, and thanks to Woodroffe Primary School, our judges and ABC Radio Darwin for attending the event and interviewing students.
The Queensland schools participating in Kids in Space – St Joseph’s Primary Bundaberg, Kilkivan State School (P-10), Palmwoods State School, Cooloola Christian College, Kin Kora State School and St James Lutheran College – came together on June 17th for the state finals and showcase at Cooloola Christian College in Gympie.
The judges were Kavana Trewavas, Marketing, Events and Communications Coordinator at iLaunch; Giovanni Bernalcarrillo, Business Manager for the Trailblazer Program at iLaunch; Vedika Latchman-Singh, National Director, Exotopic; and Shivaun MacCarthy, Research Operations Officer at iLaunch.
The Queensland state winner was Palmwoods State School with their project: a junk collector to recycle space junk, and increase space sustainability. Their design solution captures debris in a net and brings it back to Earth for sorting and recycling.
The peer prize winner was St James Lutheran College, with their Parkland reserve with metal detectors, designed to protect the environment from different threats.
Thanks to Cooloola Christian College, our esteemed judges and Perrie Moller from WINNEWS.
The 11 schools selected for 2025 Kids in Space Program – Falls Creek Primary School, Undera Primary School, Beechworth Primary School, Echuca Primary School, Tungamah Primary School, Alexandra Primary School, Mount Beauty Primary School, Girgarre Primary School, Appin Park Primary School, Nathalia Primary School, and Myrrhee Primary School – came together on June 20th at the Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre for the Victorian showcase.
Showcase judges were Melissa Gatt from Questacon; Dr. Sara Webb, Director of Swinburne Astronomy Online and Lead for Microgravity Experimentation within the Space Technology Industry Institute; Celeste Best, Security Policy Design at the Australian Space Agency; and Darcey Watson, CEO of the Andy Thomas Space Foundation.
Congratulations to the students from Mount Beauty Primary School (Team 2), who were judged the overall winner! Students designed a pollution-cleaning rover for the ocean. Directed by space satellites, their creation uses GPS to locate debris and pollution in the ocean, and then deposits it into boats that take the rubbish to a designated Ocean Clean-up Port. From here the rubbish is transported to an incinerator where the waste is converted into fuel.
The peer prize as voted on by the students was won by Tungamah Primary School. They designed and 3d printed a range of fidget toys to help keep astronauts calm in space. The toys are attached to lanyards to ensure they are manageable in microgravity environments. They are designed with interactive features, including a squeezable material and heat reactive materials that change colour when held.
On June 23rd, Covenant Christian School, Wanniassa Hills Primary School, Mount Rogers Primary, Florey Primary School, Charles Weston School, St Joseph’s Primary School, Rosary Primary School, Margaret Hendry District School and Canberra Girls Grammar Junior School convened at Mungga-Iri Jingee Academy Of Future Skills in Canberra for the ACT finals and showcase.
Judges for this showcase were Andrew Pryor, Director, Strategy Growth Space & C4isr at KBR; Laura Tapp, Senior Program and Policy Officer at Research Division Australian Government Department of Education; Dan Heap, Assistant Director at Academy of Future Skills; Angela Harrison, General Manager at Engineers Australia; Katie Mouser, A/g Assistant Director at the Australian Space Agency/International Partnerships | Space Capability Branch; and Michael Davis, Chair of the Andy Thomas Space Foundation.
Congratulations to the students from Wanniassa Hills Primary School (Team 1) who were judged ACT winner. Their design, the Debrix Machine, is a solar-powered machine that captures and removes space debris using a combination of tools. It shoots out magnet-tipped nets from a railgun to collect metal debris, uses electromagnets to draw metal closer, and employs adhesives like epoxy and Gecko Adhesive to trap non-metal debris. Larger debris is broken down using cannons before being collected. Once full, the debris is compressed and launched into Earth’s atmosphere, where it safely burns up. The system is guided by 360° cameras and operates continuously using solar panels and rechargeable batteries. The team chose to tackle the space debris problem after speaking with a space communicator at the Australian Space Discovery Centre, who highlighted it as one of the most critical unsolved issues in space.
Winning the peer prize, Covenant Christian School (Team 2) proposed a machine to prevent solar radiation.
Thanks to our special guests and judges.
The 13 SA schools participating in Kids in Space – St James School, Palmer Primary School, Westport Primary School, John Hartley School, Sunrise Christian School Naracoorte, Snowtown Primary School, Riverdale Primary School, St Peter’s Woodlands Grammar School, Kaurna Plains School, Manoora Primary School, IQRA College, St Columba College, & Coomandook Area School – met on June 24th for a showcase at Riverdale Primary School in Salisbury Downs.
Judges for this showcase were Nicole Russo, VP Commercial Operations at Myriota; Lee Houlson, Director, Commercial at KBR Australia Defence and Security Solutions (ADSS); Brenton Whitington, Director – Business Development – Space Domain at Saab; Ian Spencer, Defense SA/SASIC Executive Director Defence and Industry; Alex Ryan, Project Officer at Inovor; Melissa De Zwart, Deputy Director and Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants 4 Space; Isabella McCulloch, Space Communicator at the Australian Space Agency; and Kruger White, Defence Science and Technology Group liaison at the Australian Space Agency.
Congratulations to hosts Riverdale Primary School (Team 2) for taking out the SA Finals. They addressed the problem of providing astronauts with a healthy, delicious and more readily available food supply when working in space. Their ‘Plant Grower’ machine uses water, steam, coffee ground fertiliser and white vinegar, incorporating humidity and coloured LED lights to assist plant growth.
Congratulations also to SA Peer Prize winners Sunrise Christian School (Team 2). They solved the issue of providing sustainable access to food in space including coding and building a self-pollinating robot.
Thanks to our special guests, judges, Channel 10 and ABC Radio.
!The winning team from each state and territory will meet in Adelaide in November for the national Kids in Space showcase at the Australian Space Discovery Centre. There, one team will be announced as the overall national winner of Kids in Space 2025!
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