CoderDojo bright sparks to make cosmic history

Five Cork students aim to make astronomical history by snapping a picture of space using a telescope operated remotely from a flight to San Francisco.

The five students are Cork CoderDojo members flying on the inaugural Aer Lingus Dublin to San Francisco flight departing this afternoon. The five have live access to robotic telescopes in California as part of a dual education sister city partnership developed by Cork Institute of Technology’s Blackrock Castle Observatory (CIT BCO). Students Áine Ellen O’Neill, Ruth Whelan, Emily Mary Ray, and Andrew Barrett, all aged 13 and Matthew Mallen, 12, have been selected to give Mayor Ed Lee of San Francisco a lesson in coding as part of the five-day trip.

Shortly after take-off tomorrow at 12.20, the five will use the airline’s wifi to connect to the telescope in the Portola Valley to take images of space before dawn breaks on the west coast.

“The weather looks good at the moment, so it’s very exciting,” said Clair McSweeney of CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory (BCO). “Our CoderDojo bright sparks are delighted to be on this adventure as tech ambassadors for Ireland; the trip is directly linked to their enthusiasm for learning through technology and is ultimately about skill and confidence building.”

The aim of the trip is to develop technology links between San Francisco and Cork, the founding city of CoderDojo. The students will show their coding skills to representatives of top Silicon-Valley-based firms.

“Studies show that inspiring kids when they are young has the greatest long-term economic benefit,” said Dr Niall Smith, Head of Research at Cork Institute of Technology and Founding Director of CIT-BCO.