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Tag Archives: NASA

St Flannan’s College is out of this world

AN Ennis school has proven itself to be out of this world by being a part of a NASA mission to Mars. The names of some 300 St Flannan’s College students and teachers have been sent to the Red Planet on NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover, with the spacecraft expected to touchdown on February 18. St Flannan’s physics teacher John Conneely tells us that the school is excited to be a part of this momentous occasion, which marks one small step towards human exploration of the planet. He explains that the school got involved through NASA’s ‘Send Your Name to Mars’ campaign, part of a public engagement initiative to highlight missions involved with NASA’s journey from the Moon to Mars. The Ennis names join millions of others submitted from people all over the world. “We are very pleased to be part of NASA’s latest educational programme. If the Perseverance lander can survive the ‘seven minutes of terror’ decent into the thin …

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Flannan’s students reach for the Stars

THEY may have already taken a step but a group of Ennis students are now hoping that, with some help, they will be able to take a giant leap towards a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Six students from St Flannan’s College in Ennis have taken second place in an international competition, run by US space agency NASA, for their plans for a ‘space elevator’. The fifth-year students now have an opportunity to attend a conference in Los Angeles, featuring some of the biggest names in space exploration, including former astronauts and the founder of Amazon, Jeff Benzos, who is developing technologies to allow for space tourism. However, in order for them to reach for the stars, the students have yet another out-of-this-world task to accomplish, with €12,000 in funding needed in order to take the trip. They are hopeful that a sponsor might come on board and support them in making their dream trip a reality. Students George Harrington, Cyrus Gillan, Micheal …

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St Flannan’s students hoping for blast off

FOUR Clare students have taken one giant leap by coming first in their category for a major international competition ran by NASA. The St Flannan’s students have come top in the senior small team category in the NASA/Ames Space Settlement Design contest. They now have a chance to present their ideas in front of an audience of scientists and those in the space industry at the International Space Development Conference in Puerto Rico next month. Some of the biggest names in space exploration will be at the five-day conference, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Eoghan Keane, Kieran Maher, Sean Donnelly and Jason Herbert designed a settlement for thousands of people in the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. Their innovative design, orbiting around the dwarf planet Ceres, features agricultural, residential and industrial areas to support 10,000 people. The students worked with teachers John Conneely and Grainne O’Brien, with support from Michael Horgan, on the project. As well as facing …

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Run on the moon in Ennis

Active Ennis is giving local people the chance to trial the world’s first Alterg anti-gravity treadmill this Friday in the town centre. This piece of life-changing technology was engineered by NASA and as well as the fun of feeling what it’s like to walk on the moon it has the serious ability to get people moving again much sooner after illness or injury. Users step into the treadmill, the sealed chamber inflates around their waist and fills with air. Therapists can then select a percentage of bodyweight to take off the patient by adjusting the air pressure, allowing them to move without the burden of gravity on their lower limbs. John Carey, Duty Gym Manager at Active Ennis, the only facility in the county with an anti-gravity treadmill said: “We have been using our treadmill on a wide range of patients who have all experienced a quicker recovery time. The treadmill enables us to get our patients moving a lot …

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NASA helping Clare athletes back to fitness

Space age technology originally developed by NASA is being used at Active Ennis Leisure Complex to help improve recovery times, increase mobility and lessen the chance of future injury for athletes and patients. The Ennis complex [part of swmming pool] is the only facility in the Mid-West to provide public access to an anti-gravity AlterG treadmill, which has previously been used by internationally renowned sports stars such as former Irish rugby international Brian O’Driscoll, Barcelona footballer, Luis Suarez; multiple tennis Grand Slam champion, Rafa Nadal and Irish Olympian, Derval O’Rourke. It’s more widely used across the United States where it is a regular feature of the recovery process for injured professional basketballers and American footballers. Physiotherapists throughout the world have hailed the treadmill for its role in expediting rehabilitation for athletes overcoming lower leg injuries, or for patients with a variety of medical conditions such as strokes, Parkinson’s Disease and total knee and hip joint replacements. “We are delighted to …

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Houston, we’ve landed at Shannon

Al Worden, who landed at Shannon Airport this Tuesday evening, was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in 1966 and served as a command module pilot for the historic Apollo 15 (July 26 – August 7, 1971). His arrival at Shannon for a number of public engagements, including a lecture at LIT tomorrow evening and a dinner at the Pavilion UL on the 17th, is all down to a self-confessed space fanatic, Paul Ryan from Ballybricken, Limerick reaching for his own stars to fulfil a bucket-list he drew up after two cardiac incidents at the age of 37. “I have had a fascination with space since I was a young boy and dreamed then of becoming an astronaut but that never happened, of course. I did get to live in the States later on and went to the NASA locations so they were huge moments. “The real trigger for doing this, however, was I had two cardiac incidents four years ago and our second child was born …

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Apollo 15 legend to touch down at Shannon

SPACE enthusiasts countrywide and from the UK are set to descend on Limerick to get a rare audience with one of just 24 people to have flown to the moon. Al Worden, who was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in 1966, served as a command module pilot for the historic Apollo 15 (July 26 – August 7, 1971), and is seen very much as one of the icons of space travel. His visit to Ireland for a lecture at LIT next Tuesday  and a dinner at the Pavilion UL the following day, is all down to one self-confessed Limerick space fanatic, Paul Ryan from Ballybricken, reaching for his own stars and, completely off his own bat, managing to connect with Worden and secure him for the two special events. And speaking this week, Ryan explained that he had a double motivation for getting Worden to come to Ireland: his life-long fascination with space, combined with it being the …

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