A group of students at Steyning Grammar School undertook the task of exploring new ways of getting to planet Mars.

Some 24 students taking the International Baccalaureate (IB) were expected to present their proposals for the journey in 48 hours.

On January 23 and 24, all Year 12 IB students were busy researching, testing and presenting their proposal to a panel of in-house scientists.

The task, which accounted for 3% of their science grade, aimed at testing personal skills, motivation, perseverance, teamwork and self-reflection and evaluate how they manifest themselves in the students.

The group of 24 was split into five teams, each consisting of at least one chemist, one physicist and one biologist, and given a topic to investigate.

The teams worked separately, each to focus on their individual Mars mission and develop alternatives to food and water supplies, keeping fit and healthy, avoiding psychological imbalance and providing protection against harmful radiation.

After a morning of tests using computerised measurements to measure temperature, light, sound, voltage, electric current and magnetism, students conducted research on the Internet and in scientific journals on-site, at the Learning Resource Centre.

The second morning was spent developing presentations, putting forward ideas and analysing data to allow detailed conclusions driven by scientific evidence.

Each team produced a very well researched presentation with ideas such as; ‘Grow Your Own on Mars’ from the ‘food’ team, ‘Remote Controlled Field Robots to Gather Samples and Avoid Radioactive Exposure on Mars’ from the ‘radiation’ group and the use of a Fly Wheel as the Ultimate Space Training Machine from the ‘exercise’ party.

IB Coordinator at Steyning Grammar School, Danielle Cook, said: “We were all pleased to see such earnestness in young adults.

Each individual immersed themselves in the topic given and the groups worked well together as teams, persevering in their research until they were confident they knew their subjects well enough to make tentative conclusions, both important aspects of the IB profile.”