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Armagh Observatory
College Hill
Armagh
Northern Ireland
BT61 9DG
Contact: Mark Bailey
Armagh Observatory
Tel.: 028-3752-2928
Fax.: 028-3752-7174
Press Release

OBSERVATORY AND AmmA "HIGHLY COMMENDED" AT DCAL AWARDS CEREMONY

Armagh Observatory, 17th June 2014: Staff at Armagh Observatory and the
AmmA Creative Learning Centre, Armagh, worked last summer to deliver AmmA's
Project Infinity, which involved a team of eight young people working
together to design, construct and launch a weather balloon that would carry
a scientific payload to gather data and imagery from the edge of space.
The hard work of everyone involved in this project was rewarded on 11th
June at the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure's (DCAL's) Claire's
Awards ceremony in W5, The Odyssey Centre, Belfast, in an event that
celebrated achievement and outstanding impact amongst the Department's Arms-
Length Bodies and other organizations in the fields of creativity,
innovation, education and lifelong learning. Project Infinity was
recognized with an award from the DCAL Minister, CarАl NМ ChuilМn MLA, of a
"Highly Commended" certificate in the Science, Technology, Engineering,
Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) category.

The project, which was led by AmmA's Daniel O'Reilly and Jamie Kelly, was
part of a week's Coder Dojo Bootcamp, hosted and organized by the AmmA
Centre during August 2013. Armagh Observatory staff provided scientific
advice and an introduction to the structure of the Earth's atmosphere.
This was followed by a tour of the Observatory and its meteorological
station, and a visit to the Armagh Planetarium, led by the Observatory's
Universe-Awareness project manager, Libby McKearney, who also worked with
15 younger children at the AmmA centre on a variey of space-themed
educational activities including the Earthball, observations, models and
gravity in the solar system. After a week's intensive work the Project
Infinity team launched the weather balloon and its scientific payload from
Emain Macha, Navan Fort, on 20th August.

The group had optimised the launch date for a safe landing not far from
Armagh, but having tracked the science module all the way to its descent
from near-space to a location close to Dundalk, Co. Louth, low-altitude
winds blew it off course and it fell in the sea less than a mile off the
coast in Dundalk Bay. Following a social media campaign it was
subsequently recovered from a beach in North Wales in mid-September and
later returned to the AmmA Centre.

Professor Bailey, Director of the Armagh Observatory, said: "Project
Infinity made a very significant contribution the DCAL's STEAM Agenda, for
example combining key scientific and technological skills relating to the
design and construction of scientific instruments and a scientific payload
with the necessary practical skills need to identify, design, build and
ruggedize the upper-atmosphere space vehicle in a form that would survive
the rigours of its journey to near-space."

DCAL's Claire's Awards recognize the work of a former member of staff in
the Department and the very significant impact of the work amongst all the
Department's Arms-Length Bodies and other organizations covering various
areas of education and lifelong learning. Further information on the 2014
awards ceremony is available from the DCAL website at
http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/news-dcal-110614-minister-presents-
awards.

For more information about Project Infinity, contact Daniel O'Reilly at the
AmmA Centre, Armagh, at Daniel.OReilly@selb.org (Tel.: 028-3751-2920) or
Mark Bailey at the Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh, BT61 9DG.
Tel.: 028-3752-2928; FAX: 028-3752-7174; meb@arm.ac.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS:


Images from this project, all of which may be used, can be found at
http://star.arm.ac.uk/~meb/project_infinity/. For further information and
images please contact Daniel O'Reilly or Mark Bailey.

http://star.arm.ac.uk/~meb/project_infinity/project_infinity_awards_image_20
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