In March 2021, the Space Zone ran for 3 weeks.

The Zone was funded by the UK Space Agency, and featured 8 engineers working across the space sector.

435 students logged in, taking part in over 20 live chats, and sending 75 questions to the engineers.

During the activity, students voted for their favourite engineer, and the winner was Hester Baird!

As Zone winner, Hester wins £500 to spend on more engineering engagement activities.

Here’s what she had to say about her experience in I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here…

“Wow, well this is exciting! I’ve had such a great time taking part in the Space Zone, and was blown away by the enthusiasm of all the students involved. Thank you all for the fantastic questions, and I hope everyone was able to take something away from the event, whether that was a new found enthusiasm for space, or even just a bit more of an insight into how the industry works.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to the I’m an Engineer team for organising the event, moderating the chats and questions and generally just being lovely to work alongside. I’m also massively grateful to all the other engineers who took part – not only did they answer lots of questions from students, but they also answered some from me, and I learned many new things!

I was really impressed with how many students were already engaged in space, and keeping up to date on current space news. We had some great discussions about the recent landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars and the meteorite that landed in the UK earlier this month. There were also plenty of questions about rockets, satellites and space debris – it was very encouraging to see students considering the positive and negative impacts of space launches on Earth but also on the space environment.

Students didn’t hold back in asking some pretty tricky questions too! One example was ‘Why does everyone talk about going into space when there are so many things on Earth that need fixing’. I hope I managed to persuade you that space is a vital resource, not just for satellites and their many applications here on Earth, but also for advancing our knowledge of the Universe and feeding our curiosity.

I am confident that the next generation of scientists and engineers are a very talented bunch, and I hope that I might get to meet some of you in the space sector in the future!”

Hester
Space Zone winner