“Cubes in Space is a competition offered in collaboration with NASA. We designed and built two projects: one to measure the UV blocking abilities of materials, and one to measure the efficiency of memory foam in reducing thrust oscillation. The first project was launched in a scientific balloon from NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, and the second was vibration tested at spacecraft level after the people in charge of the competition made an exception for us. We wrote proposals, designed experiments, looked up components, soldered everything together and coded it. Being involved in these projects nurtured our budding interests in engineering and developed our technical skills. We were exposed to real problems that engineers and scientists faced and learnt to relish fixing them. These opportunities will hopefully make both our applications to university and apprenticeships all the more appealing.”