Dear All
I thought you might be interested in this project that's been put together by Piers Bizony. If you want to follow it up, please contact me as I didn't want to post his details in the first instance.
Regards
Robert
January 20, 2007
Dear Peter,
I am asking for the Royal Astronomical Society’s support for an unusual and exciting project. My aim is to use the story of the first landing on the moon to grab the imaginations of young people and steer their interest towards design and engineering.
I have organised the construction of a highly accurate model of Apollo 11’s lunar module. Nothing else like it exists in this country. My intention is to tour the model
(protected in a perspex display case) and use it as a stimulus for dialogue. Young people—and many adults too—are bound to ask about the vehicle’s strange shape and colour scheme. There are no concessions to empty styling, and this is what makes the machine so fascinating. Every element reveals problem-solving under the most challenging design constraints. Apollo may be an extreme example, but the critical thinking behind it applies just as well to good spacecraft design overall.
My modelmakers from the Arts Institute at Bournemouth, final-year students Richard Horton and Jonathan Sturgess, have faced tremendous challenges. They have used every conceivable modelling technique, from wood carving to laser cutting and 3D rapid prototyping. Their model is a fantastic example of what students can achieve, given the right motivation and resources.
I am giving a series of illustrated talks at the Brighton Science Festival in February, and at the Cheltenham Science Festival in July, on the theme of space exploration. The LM model will be on prominent display at both venues. Then, in October, I am holding a two-day session at the multimedia @Bristol complex, marking the 50th Anniversary of Sputnik, the 1957 satellite that heralded the Space Age. As with all my events and lectures, the aim will be to create a sense of excitement about the possibilities of space science.
I have two sponsors at the moment: the Hasselblad camera company and the BBC Magazine group. The BBC's famous programme The Sky at Night also celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. I’m at ‘break-even’ on the costs, and the model is safely paid for, but I have nothing to cover my own costs, nor those of transporting the model to different venues.
I would like to achieve sufficient funding so that I can also tour the model to schools in the South West region. You may or may not have some ideas as to whom I could approach for additional funding, but don’t worry if this is not in your remit. More realistically, I do hope that the R.A.S. might be able to advise me about how to place this project in additional venues during this year.
Thank you for your very kind attention.
Piers Bizony
Dear Peter,
I am asking for the Royal Astronomical Society’s support for an unusual and exciting project. My aim is to use the story of the first landing on the moon to grab the imaginations of young people and steer their interest towards design and engineering.
I have organised the construction of a highly accurate model of Apollo 11’s lunar module. Nothing else like it exists in this country. My intention is to tour the model
(protected in a perspex display case) and use it as a stimulus for dialogue. Young people—and many adults too—are bound to ask about the vehicle’s strange shape and colour scheme. There are no concessions to empty styling, and this is what makes the machine so fascinating. Every element reveals problem-solving under the most challenging design constraints. Apollo may be an extreme example, but the critical thinking behind it applies just as well to good spacecraft design overall.
My modelmakers from the Arts Institute at Bournemouth, final-year students Richard Horton and Jonathan Sturgess, have faced tremendous challenges. They have used every conceivable modelling technique, from wood carving to laser cutting and 3D rapid prototyping. Their model is a fantastic example of what students can achieve, given the right motivation and resources.
I am giving a series of illustrated talks at the Brighton Science Festival in February, and at the Cheltenham Science Festival in July, on the theme of space exploration. The LM model will be on prominent display at both venues. Then, in October, I am holding a two-day session at the multimedia @Bristol complex, marking the 50th Anniversary of Sputnik, the 1957 satellite that heralded the Space Age. As with all my events and lectures, the aim will be to create a sense of excitement about the possibilities of space science.
I have two sponsors at the moment: the Hasselblad camera company and the BBC Magazine group. The BBC's famous programme The Sky at Night also celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. I’m at ‘break-even’ on the costs, and the model is safely paid for, but I have nothing to cover my own costs, nor those of transporting the model to different venues.
I would like to achieve sufficient funding so that I can also tour the model to schools in the South West region. You may or may not have some ideas as to whom I could approach for additional funding, but don’t worry if this is not in your remit. More realistically, I do hope that the R.A.S. might be able to advise me about how to place this project in additional venues during this year.
Thank you for your very kind attention.
Piers Bizony
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