Year 11 space & rocket science

This course will give you an excellent grounding for Year 12 Chemistry and Physics.  We will cover aspects of Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics as well as Technology during a rocket - build project. It is a great option for budding engineers as it involves a mixture of Science and Technology. Here are some other reasons to take this course:

Space exploration is ramping up. 

• Rocket Lab has a launch site on the Mahia peninsula in Hawkes Bay and is now making regular launches.

• New Zealand’s Space industry contributes close to $2billion per year to New Zealand's GDP and supports more than 12,000 jobs.

• NASA aims to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

• The James Webb telescope, launched on Christmas Day 2021, is generating some extraordinary images of stars, nebulae and galaxies. 

• In 2018 the TESS satellite, on the look-out for Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars, was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA with the launch observed by WC students on a Space Trip to the USA at the time.

Meanwhile, we are yet to see the first New Zealander in Space. 

Sir William Pickering, an Old Boy of Wellington College in the 1920s, was the director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in the 1950s, during the very first years of human space exploration.

This is an exciting time to learn more about Space and Rocket Science.

In this course, you will spend much of Term 1 in groups of 2 - 3, designing, building and launching 2 rockets. During the year you will also learn about:

• history of space exploration

• chemistry of rocket fuel

• carbon chemistry - great preparation for Level 2 Chemistry

• physics of rocket design and launch

• astronomical observations – discoveries and techniques 

• stresses on the human body in space

• electricity and magnetism - great preparation for Level 2 Physics

In Term 1 you will learn a bit about the history of space exploration, before taking on two projects, designing, building and launching 2 rockets. The first is a small kit-set rocket, the second is a larger rocket with a payload that must be brought down intact. Here's an example. This project will also involve learning some rocket Physics. You will also learn about the Chemistry of rocket fuel and how it varies depending on the situation.

In Term 2 you will learn about carbon chemistry. As well as covering the concept of combustion in some detail, this topic deals with understanding hydrocarbons, alcohols, polymers and environmental effects of human use of carbon compounds. This is a hot topic in our 21st century world and provides some excellent grounding for Level 2 Chemistry. Towards the end of the term the focus switches to Astronomy.

Term 3 sees a focus on Astronomy - the solar system, stars, black holes, comets and more; plus a research project. There will also be the opportunity for a field trip to a local site kitted out with telescopes, potentially the Wairarapa, for some night time star gazing. We then move to our final topic, electricity and magnetism, which provides invaluable grounding for Level 2 Physics. 

In Term 4 we will continue with our Physics theme. This will involve some practical work involving water rockets.

This course would suit students who have demonstrated competence in Science in Year 10. This means that this course is an option which is open to any student doing 11SCI. 

This course is aimed at students doing 11SCI who have an interest in Astronomy, as well as Chemistry and Physics. It will be useful for those students aiming to pursue Chemistry and/or Physics at Level 2 and beyond. However, note that students will be admitted to the Year 12 Chemistry and Year 12 Physics courses with a good result in 11SCI without having taken Physics or Space and Rocket Science.

This course is assessed using our WC Learning Progression Framework and provides an excellent foundation for students wishing to continue onto NCEA L2 Chemistry or Physics.