One day I got an email via school titled: ‘Calling all students interested in space!’ Curious to know more I read the attachment that came with this mysterious invitation and the first page literally screamed ‘HEY YOU! WANT TO SEND SOMETHING TO SPACE? (REALLY)’!
‘We are looking for 20 students to form a club that will run for 2 years to work together to send payloads into space and communicate with a real space station.’ Having only binge watched the entire series of Star Wars from ‘The Phantom Menace’ to ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ just last week I was fuelled with curiosity to know more.
I’m also a big fan of the comic ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ by Hergé. Tintin is a Belgium reporter who is always on the lookout for solving dangerous cases and going on adventures. One of the greatest adventures of Tintin is when he goes to the moon with Professor Calculus and Captain Haddock. I went to the City Library of Western Australia that day and got the two books of Tintin’s space comics: Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon.
I started dreaming of all the things that I would do! But…I had to get in first. It was scary to fill the questionnaire that determined if I could get to be a part of this iconic team or not. It took me until the end of the submission day to submit the form because I took a long time thinking about what to write in each of the questions.
I mentioned how I was fascinated to watch the YouTube video by Veritasium about 3D printed metal rockets. The video features the world’s largest 3D metal printer made by a company called ‘Relativity Space’. It is a startup that aims to 3D print an entire rocket! Derek Muller got to see the 3D printer working its magic up close.
After submitting I waited for days….
Finally, one day I found out that I was added to the Microsoft Teams titled ‘BinarX 2024-2026’!
I was so ecstatic! That day I dreamed of my project going into space. My first BinarX meeting was on 18 March 2024. I got to meet with my fellow space rangers and teachers that day.
BinarX is a programme that allows Western Australia students to design and prototype their own payload which will be sent into orbit by the Binar space programme at Curtin university.
You might be wondering what is ‘Binar’? What does it mean? Does it stand for something?
Well, ‘Binar’ is a type of CubeSat. It is a small 10cm cube which orbit around the earth. The payloads are missions that the CubeSat does. And I could be part of the team that sends their mission to space for the Binar to do! How cool is that!
A few months later…
I had gotten used to Binar by now and had the 1-hour meeting on every week etched into my brain. It became part of my routine and will until next year. It was repetitive and honestly starting to get a bit boring for someone who dreamed of sending their mission on a spacecraft to Tatooine.
That was when Meg our BinarX mentor dropped a bombshell on us: “You guys are going to Curtin for a full day excursion to present your Mission Concept Review (MCR)”!
I was happy for two things: 1. Going to Curtin University 2. Skipping school for a whole day (and boasting about it to my friends, after all not everyone gets to skip school to go to Curtin to talk about space!)
The next 3 weeks were planning for the Mission Concept Review that included making PowerPoint presentations, planning on who is saying what and more.
The excursion on 19 June was for us to talk about our mission ideas with fellow BinarX students from different schools and with the professionals at Curtin.
That day was a one-of-a-kind experience we got to not only present our idea but also listen to what others school came up with.
I was a bit nervous to face the crowd, but it ended up being an amazing experience.
To make ourselves feel less nervous and to make it funny my teammates and I thought of saying a joke at the very start of the presentation to lighten up the tense mood. We were literally googling ‘funny space jokes’ inside the bus, while on our way to Curtin. I was saying the first line while my teammate delivered the answer:
“What did the doctor say to the rocket ship?”
“Time to get your booster shot!”
The trick sure did work as everyone became more attentive and interested on our presentation. Even I was surprised we got the whole room to laugh at that joke. To make people remember our team we also named it “The Space Rangers”.
That day was surely memorable as we got to make new friends from different schools and explore Curtin together. We even got some yummy snacks to eat as well.
A few more months later…
This is my most recent fun memory of Binar that I had.
I was interviewed as part of a podcast for the BinarX programme! I was super nervous, but I think I did well.
Before the interview happened, I watched the ‘Apollo 13’ movie directed by Ron Howard. It tells the real life incidents of astronauts Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise who were on the Apollo 13 for a crewed mission to the moon which then turned into a rescue operation.
Just a few days ago I visited Planetarium Negara which is the National Planetarium of Malaysia situated at the Jalan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur. We got to watch a show on the dome project about the ‘Stars, Moon and Us’. It was so cool, and it reminded me of SciTech planetarium here at Perth. Did you know that the SciTech planetarium was originally an old IMAX theatre turned into a space museum. Anyway, it was an amazing experience to got to Malaysia and visit the space exhibitions there. I got to know about Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was an astronaut who went to space from Malaysia.
I was also astonished to see the YouTube video of one of my favourite channels Jared Owen being played on the planetarium. Jared Owen is a YouTube who make 3D animation videos to explain different topics. I saw a video of him showing the insides of a rocket and other space equipment’s which astronauts use to go to space.
Going to Malaysia was such a fun trip with my family as I got to visit many museums, eat food and enjoy.
So far, this BinarX programme has made me believe in the power of dreaming and stepping out of your comfort zone. And I am sure more challenges will be faced in the upcoming months, but I look forward to it!