Targeting the city’s secondary school students, the HKU Academy for the Talented, the HKU Laboratory for Space Research (LSR) and the Orion Astropreneur Space Academy (OASA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in mid-May, to jointly offer a first-of-its-kind Space Technology initiative in Hong Kong, namely the ‘Business Economy for Space Technology (BEST)’ programme.
The STEM initiative aims to nurture the next generation of ‘Astropreneur’ with an understanding of how Space Technology and Space Data can generate a myriad of business opportunities in the ‘NewSpace’ era.
Under this bold initiative, secondary school students will apply Space Technology to seek to tackle critical issues and imminent challenges such as those under the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. School teams will build a CubeSat prototype with the use of computer-aided design tools.
To give participants authentic exposure to project management, there will be dedicated lectures and year-round workshops with professional mentorship guidance on space science, engineering and entrepreneurship, the concept and mission of a CubeSat, and prototype build and deployment.
Through solid training in leadership, teamwork, critical and analytical thinking and communication and presentation skills, participants will accomplish a common goal together with their team members. What’s more, the ‘BEST’ CubeSat design chosen by the expert judges may even form the basis of a viable CubeSat mission for launch.
Secondary schools and students who are interested in the ‘BEST’ initiative are welcome to apply and attend a virtual information session on 20 July 2021. For more details, please visit: https://talented.hku.hk
