Hundreds of Darwin school kids and members of the public flocked to the showgrounds this morning to soak up some of the atmosphere surrounding the 2011 Veolia World Solar Challenge. While solar car teams from all over the world had their cars ‘scrutineered’, the students and members of the public were entertained  at the RiAus Solar Science booth. Every now and then a cheer would erupt as a solar team passed their regulation tests. Kids watching from upstairs were taken on tours, listened to expert talks and even got to build their own small electric motors.  Their questions were fabulous, impressing our director Paul Willis. “How do the cars work in the rain?” “How fast can they go?” “How big are the solar panels?”  What a wonderful group.  Tomorrow the WSC heads back to Halley Raceway for time trials and final safety tests.  The challenge starts at 8am on Sunday. You can follow the progress of the World Solar Challenge from RiAus Mission Control @ the Science Exchange.

Hot and humid, but all going well here.

 Some pictures from the day

Steve Kern from the RiAus team and David Kitching talk to school kids

Kiran Shettigara from the RiAus team talks solar science

By Kiran Shettigara

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