On the 16th of November, Chigwell School took a group of A-level physics students to the Airbus Defence and Space site in Stevenage. The purpose of the trip was to expose these keen physicists to real-world engineering jobs in action, allowing them to grasp a greater understanding of what their future may hold, and to hopefully aid in their post A-level decisions.  David Ledger, Head of Panels and Structures MFT at Airbus Defence and Space led the tour and showed the students many inspiring and educational parts of the business.  

David Ledger said 'it was great to see so many aspiring young engineers on the day, and I hope the day gave them some insight and helped them in their decision-making going forwards’, he was also very ‘impressed with the level of questioning and interest' shown by the students. The tour started with a short presentation of what Airbus produces and lead onto teaching the students about different satellites and their functions. The walk through the factory exposed them to the real jobs in engineering that they might one day pursue, and being able to watch engineers at work was a ‘really eye-opening experience’ according to Emily, year 12. The pupils got to see the work happening in ‘clean rooms’ and learned about the creation different parts of satellites and space rovers along the way.

The climax of the tour was the Mars Yard on the Airbus site; a room designed to simulate the landscape of Mars, and used to test the functionality of prototype rovers. It was here that the students gained a true love for the industry: ‘I think it would be so cool to build rovers for Mars; being part of the process in space exploration seems very interesting but also like a lot of fun’ (Emily, year 12). Overall, the trip was a great success, inspiring the younger generation of fledgling engineers.