12 August 2021
Physics Olympics
On the last day of lockdown, while the Australian Olympic athletes were competing on the world stage, the St Peter’s College Physics Olympic team was competing against the best and the brightest minds in the nation. This year, just like last year, the Physics Olympiad competition was held online. The following students represented the St Peters College Olympic team for 2021: Alexander Grice, Darren Nguyen, Ethan Trewartha, Gunin Singhal, Haoming Xu, Henry Reynolds, Ian Irwin, Joe Xu, Karan Sethi, Lysander Tonkin, Max Wang, Nicholas Koh and Oscar Chen. Congratulations to all the boys involved.
Southern Launch @ Saints
Increasingly our lives depend on technology, whether it’s a phone, camera, laptop, or any other device. The information that is exchanged between our devices come from satellites. With the revolutionising of how space is accessed, and satellites are used, data is becoming easier and more efficient to collect. In the past only large satellites were able to provide the information but the cost associated with them exceeded half a billion US dollars. However, companies around the world are now launching small satellites orbiting at less than 400 km from Earth’s surface, in Low Earth Orbit, which are costing less than half a million US dollars each. For a bit of exposure to this industry, the Physics Department took the opportunity to benefit from the presence of the Southern Launch Company representative at school. Southern Launch provides a location for launching small satellites into Polar Orbit from their Orbital Launch Complex at Whalers Way, and Sub-Orbital launches at our Koonibba Test Range. On Friday 25 June, the Year 11 Physics students participated in a lecture style presentation by the Southern Launch. The presentation was very informative, and the boys were well informed about the space agencies here in Adelaide and its future in our state.
Hiwa Jaldiani
Physics Coordinator