What’s the largest payload that could be launched into orbit by slingshot?

This was the challenging question this year for the University of Auckland's annual Engineering Science Competition.

Two teams from Burnside participated on Saturday August 6th in a challenge lasting eight hours. No help could be provided by anyone outside the team, making this a true test of their research, mathematical modelling, report writing and collaboration skills, and of course also their resilience!

This year 179 teams from across the country participated, and the team comprising Johnny Lawrey, Ameya Raut and Olivia Wang were highly commended, ranking in the top 11 teams. As these students are all in Year 12, they can have another crack at winning a place on the podium next year.