Lets go to Mars

Planet Mars always has been an interesting celestial object throughout generations. It never fails to grasp the human curiosity. The very Red planet people used to worship, now is a target for more scientific work – possible colonizing in the future being one of them.

On 12th March 2010, a workshop was organized for about 15 schools in Colombo North and Gampaha District. The program was hosted by Astronomical Society of Dharmaloka School, conducted by Royal College Astronomical Society (RCAS) with the guidance of Sri Lanka Astronomical Association (SLAA).

The participants were divided into ten groups and given the task of building a Mars Colony. Interesting combining their little knowledge about the planet with Biology, Physics and Mathematics skills, the groups came up with various ideas and created models to express them.

After two and half hours of time, it was the time for the judges to review the models. Each team presented their models. And finally the Team 1 walked away with the first place for getting higher scores in original idea, practicality, design, and team work.

As a final note, the General Secretary of Sri Lanka Astronomical Association – Thilina Heenatigala briefed about Mars and how far have we come exploring Mars.


Some interesting moments from the workshop:

preparation

brainstorming

more discussions

hands on

presenting to judges

a model

another team presenting their model

General Secretary of SLAA; Thilina Heenatigala, addressing the crowd

All the models at display