Rosetta on the Road is an educational and outreach package delivered by members of the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute (PSSRI) team that built the Ptolemy instrument for ROSETTA – the
European Space Agency’s comet chaser and lander.
The package consists of an audiovisual PowerPoint presentation, supported by a 1:2 scale model of the Rosetta lander and a number of interactive demonstrations. The presentation is tailored towards Key Stage 3 students, though the presenting team are suitably skilled and briefed to be able to tailor the talk also to KS1-2 and KS 4 students. The combination of a visually spectacular model, with a multimedia description of an exciting and current space mission, makes for a lively and stimulating session, in which topics such as gravity, acceleration, chemical analysis, physical phase changes, and scientific method can be explored through practical examples and interactives. Where appropriate, wider issues such as the economics and ethics of space exploration can be incorporated.
The presentation usually ends with the audience gathering around the model for an interactive question-and-answer session with the presenter(s). The presenters have been intimately involved with the design and manufacture of the spacecraft instruments, and therefore are able to speak authoritatively (and hence, we find engagingly), with school children and general public alike.
Additionally, the exhibition is delivered to a general public audience through display at high profile/high attendance events; planned venues include a Royal Horticultural Society flower show, Imagineering festival etc. By targeting non-science events we aim to widen access and offer science and technology to new audiences in an engaging manner. To support these longer-term events in a cost-effective manner, high quality display panels have been produced to convey the necessary background information to place the spacecraft model in context.
Rosetta on the Road was funded by
STFC Public Understanding of Science and Technology Small Award which purchased the scale models; The Open University and
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory contribute by providing staff to give presentations.
