The Asia Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) was established to enhance the development of each country's space program and to exchange views toward future cooperation in space activities in the Asia-Pacific region. APRSAF has been holding annual meetings initiated jointly by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and co-host organisations to discuss current space related issues and possible cooperation among countries mainly from the Asia-Pacific region.
APRSAF also aims to promote awareness and how space technology benefits the community including building skills for the industry through education activities. To support this objective, and promote awareness the APRSAF Space Education and Awareness Working Group established a poster design competition for students aged 8 to 11 years, a Water Rocket Event for students aged 12 to 16 years, and an Educators Workshop to be held in association with the Water Rocket Event.
The Water Rocket Event
The annual APRSAF Water Rocket Event was hosted last year by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR) through the Space Policy Unit who hosted the event with assistance from the Victorian Space Science Education Centre on 20-21 November 2010.
Representatives from approximately 15 countries competed against each other, in building their water rocket and then targeting it at a designated target. The Competition's theme was ‘Which country will be the first to Mars', with the water rockets aiming at a large Mars planet target.
More than 70 students and teachers from around 12 countries including Australia participated in the Water Rocket Event.
The winners this year were:
- 1st Place - Tatsuya Asagi, Japan
- 2nd Place - Muhammad Syqfiq, Singapore
- 3rd Place - Jason McGavin, Australia
VISY provided sponsorship through providing some of the materials for the Event. The Space Policy Unit and the Engineers Australia National Committee for Space and Engineering supported one student/teacher from each Australian state and territory to:
Poster Competition
Last year the Victorian Space Science Education Centre (VSSEC), APRSAF and the Space Policy Unit invited primary school students between the age of 8 and 11 to design a poster based on the 2010 theme: “Space Technology to Help Earth”. This topic was selected for its connection with the International Year of Biodiversity.
The winners of last years poster contest were:
- 1st Place – Mr Juan Edwin, Indonesia
- 2nd Place – Ms Ilona Beatrix, Indonesia
- 3rd Place – Ms Yui Tamayama, Japan
A 2010/2011 Calendar, featuring the student posters from the APRSAF-16 competition can be downloaded at www.aprsaf.org/feature/feature_108.html.
