RIAT on the Road – Lockheed Martin

On Saturday 16th July, eight teams of students from Cotswold Secondary schools competed in the ‘RIAT on the Road 2022’ finals at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford.

Lockheed Martin’s ‘Mission to Mars’ Engineering Challenge asked the engineers of the future to design and build a Mars fetch rover that would collect rock samples that Perseverance has left on the surface of Mars, take them to the Mars Ascent Vehicle and launch them successfully into orbit by constructing a firing system. The challenge involved programming, electrical and mechanical systems and construction skills.

The students – from Farmor’s, Archway, Cirencester Deer Park, Cirencester Kingshill, Highworth Warneford, The Cotswold School, Stroud High School and Carterton Community College were supported by a Lockheed Martin mentor.  Each student assigned themselves a role; structural engineers, software engineer, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer and team leader. Marks were awarded for team work, robot coding, the launch system solution and launch distance achieved.

The trophy was presented to the team at Stroud High School by Stephanie Hill, Executive Vice President of Lockheed Martin’s Rotary and Mission Systems. All students who competed in the Challenge were also awarded a CREST Bronze Award.