It's a bus, but not as we know it... (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

It's a bus, but not as we know it...

8:26am Wednesday 3rd September 2008 in

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Future scientists could give their careers a blast-off through a specially-designed space-bus which has been unveiled by Bradford College.

The interactive bus has a range of impressive features including genuine control panels used aboard the International Space Station, a range of games, and screens which show 3D films with no need for special glasses.

The WOW space-bus was created in partnership with Bradford College, Space Connections and Yorkshire Forward.

Martyn Chesters, senior regeneration manager of Yorkshire Forward, said: “It’s easy to get people to come to you but it’s much better to go to them.

“We’re so pleased with the result – you can design something in your head but you really need to go out and talk to people, ask the children if they like it, so we did. And they loved it.

“This bus is going to be exciting for anyone from primary school to the age of 99.

“The aim is to inspire people and if they want more there is plenty around the region to keep them entertained, like the Yorkshire Planetarium and the Star Centre in Keighley.”

Children who hop aboard the space-bus can write, direct, produce and deliver their own 3D films on the bus which is the only one of its kind in the country.

There are activity pods, landscapes of the moon and Mars and a mobile planetarium.

Hashim Hashim, director of innovations at Bradford College, said: “There are so many activities, it is a very special bus which is why we’re very keen to make a lot of use of it.”

The bus was designed by a group which works for the European Space Agency.

It features a computer game based on the Pixar animated film WALL-E and is fitted with several laptops with games that can be programmed by teachers according to their lesson plans.

There are also three qualified teaching staff who board the bus to help children conduct science experiments.

Space Connections marketing director Alam Zeb said: “When we piloted this at one school we went to, a child told one of our staff that we’d changed his life. It was really moving.

“As a country, we are really low on scientists and engineers and we want to take the bus into schools and colleges to encourage enthusiasm in science and technology. It can be a cinema, a classroom, a play area, a spaceship and more.”

The bus has toured much of the country already as a pilot scheme, taking in the Farnborough Air Show, the Bradford Mela and schools as far afield as Newcastle.

Michele Sutton, chief executive and principal of Bradford College, said: “We have a corporate market too – company workers can come and get rid of all their inhibitions.

“Bradford College is committed to working with Yorkshire Forward to make science, technology, engineering and maths something that in particular young people become interested in.

“Children sometimes don’t think science is for them, but we want to tell them that they too can be an astronaut or a robot designer.”

The next mission for the bus will be to form part of a convoy accompanying seven NASA astronauts who will visit Bradford on September 11 and 12, having just returned from space.

e-mail: tanyaorourke@telegraphandargus.co.uk