Promoting space education through the organisation of a competition

Abstract

Space is very pervasive in numerous activities and it would be highly desirable to emphasize its benefits to industry, society and humankind. An effective way of promoting space education would be through the organization of a youth competition on a topic related to space science and technology. One way would be to organize it as a component of a major event in a related field in order to leverage on common resources, support and visibility. An example of this was the Singapore Space Challenge organized by the Singapore Space and Technology Association, as part of the Singapore Air Show, 19-24 February 2008. This was a national competition open to students in tertiary educational institutions in Singapore. Another way would be to organize it as a major event on its own. An example of this was the international competition, "Flying into the Future-Space Exploration Innovation Contest 2006-2007 for Asia". This was organised by the Chinese Society of Astronautics and the Heinlein Prize Trust. The final evaluation and the award of prizes to the winners took place in Beijing on 7 July 2007. For a competition to be effective in achieving the desired purposes, it would have to be carefully planned, well organized, and widely publicized to the appropriate people. Notice of the competition should be given well in advance so that the participants would have sufficient time to prepare for submissions of works of high quality. The criteria for evaluation and the procedures for evaluation would have to be transparently seen to be fair. The competition would need to be strongly supported by national agencies so that it can be conducted at a very high level of proficiency. Adequate funds would need to be available from generous sponsors.