Mission Accomplished: ACS Hillingdon students’ winning code launches on International Space Station
Four ambitious Grade 11 students recently landed themselves an out of this world opportunity to support the International Space Station (ISS), due to their success in the Mission Labs Astro-Pi challenge.
Held by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the annual Mission Labs Astro-Pi dared students to test their advanced coding skills to create a computer programme capable of calculating the speed of the ISS, using sensor data collected by a computer on board the space station.
Rising to the challenge were students Mikael, Aarav, Rayaan, and Kenshi, who joined forces to establish ACS Hillingdon’s team, ‘Team MARK’.
The space savvy team used the theoretical knowledge they learned through their studies and extracurricular activities at the school, such as the British Physics Olympiad, to tackle the challenge, which won them the chance to support the ISS on its latest space mission.
Kenshi said: “It was great to be able to apply the skills we have all developed during previous projects to this challenge. Between us, we got stuck in with a wealth of conceptual ideas and shared a strong foundation of our understanding of astrophysics, which we developed even further during the competition. We worked well as a team and each championed the areas in which we felt most comfortable, supporting and learning from one another throughout.”
The team’s cosmic coding didn’t go unnoticed and Team MARK received a congratulative video from ESA astronaut, SÅ‚awosz UznaÅ„ski, in which he praised the skills, creativity, curiosity and enthusiasm demonstrated by the students during the challenge. Each team member also received a certificate to commemorate their incredible achievement, showing the name of their team, the location where their program ran in space, and their school. They also received the raw data captured by their program from the ISS so that they can conduct further analysis and deepen their learning. Finally, the students were given the exciting chance to take part in a special live Q&A with ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano.
Natasha Tzanetou, Physics and Maths Teacher at ACS Hillingdon, said: “I am so proud of Team MARK. Each and every one of these four students are highly motivated and grab any opportunity that comes their way to enhance their skills and develop their learning. For this project in particular, they could not be more deserving of their success as it is a reflection of their hard work and dedication. Well done to all of you for your amazing work on this project!”
June 2025