About the session
The competition was to design and manufacture a platform for rescue operation. Your apprentice team is visiting the Moon on a study tour and is due to stay at a small lunar base, consisting of a dome that contains food, accommodation, heating, lighting and sanitary facilities, air and communication equipment. Due to an incident requiring the permanent lunar base residents having to return to Earth along with their transportation, the apprentice team is stranded. They have adequate air, food and water for an extended stay. A rescue mission will arrive to collect them in five days, but is unable to land. They must rendezvous with the rescue mission at an altitude of 1000 m, where the rescue craft will collect them. The apprentice team must build a mechanism to transport them and hold them an altitude of 1000 m for five minutes. The successful teams were asked to provide a demonstration model of the rendezvous device using modelling materials (metal, wood, plastics, etc.). The winning apprenticeship teams were: Bombardier (first prize), Oxford Instruments (second prize) and Reliant Precision (third prize).
