Mission Complete: Magdalene at ISSDC 2025
Recently, ten students from Magdalene Catholic College travelled to the United States to represent Australia in the prestigious International Space Settlement Design Competition (ISSDC), held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This opportunity was secured following the team’s outstanding success at the Australian Space Design Competition (ASDC) National Final held in Brisbane earlier this year, where Magdalene was named national champion. Their performance earned them a place as one of only two Australian schools invited to compete internationally.
The competition simulates the work of aerospace engineers, challenging students to form fictional companies and collaboratively design a large-scale space settlement. They must respond to a formal brief, present their proposal to industry judges, and work under pressure in a three-day design sprint alongside 250 students from over a dozen countries.
The team that represented Australia and Magdalene included:
The students were accompanied by Mr Chris Ferry, Mrs Jodie Hort, and Mr Danny Avalos. Please see below a day by day run down of their trip.
Wednesday 23rd- Travel Day- SYD - LAX - ORL- Isibeal Abbey
Our ISSDC journey began with an early flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, filled with excitement and anticipation. After a long haul flight, we landed in LAX and had a brief layover, giving us a chance to stretch our legs, experience American culture and regroup as a team. The second leg of the journey took us across the country from Los Angeles to Orlando, where our final destination awaited along with our rental vans. Although it was a long and tiring travel day, the energy and enthusiasm of being part of ISSDC kept spirits high throughout. We ended our very long day with a late night take out dinner at Popeyes, where the staff surprised us by giving us everything for free!!!
Thursday 22rd- Universal Studios and Team Dinner- Sienna Beller
Thursday was an unforgettable day spent at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, where the team explored all the major attractions, from the adrenaline filled Hulk rollercoaster to the thrilling Jurassic Park River Adventure. We wandered together through the magical world of Hogsmeade and even went on the Dr. Seuss carousel. We ended the evening with a memorable Southern style team dinner at Cracker Barrel, sharing stories and enjoying each other’s company. Overall, the day was filled with unforgettable moments and set the perfect tone for the exciting journey ahead.
Friday 24th- Kennedy Space Center- Angelina Bampton
At the Kennedy Space Center, we explored the breathtaking Rocket Garden before venturing inside the complex to examine powerful rocket engines and spacesuits, interact with satellite simulations, and experience a Mars planetary simulator. A guided bus tour provided fascinating insights into NASA’s operations, offering views of active rocket launchpads and the massive crawler used to transport rockets, and culminating in the awe-inspiring sight of the colossal Vehicle Assembly Building; its sheer scale all the more remarkable knowing it must accommodate entire rockets. The day concluded with a ‘cultural’ meal at Wendy’s, perfectly rounding off the experience. We got our last ‘early night’ of the trip!
Saturday 25th- Space X launch and Competition Day 1- Lachlan Campbell
An early start for competition day one as we continually battled the effects of jet lag and excitement for the competition ahead. A 3:30 am wake up (1:30 pm AEST) for the viewing of a lifetime as a Falcon 9 Space X ship launched 24 Starlink satellites to low earth orbit. The earlier than expected sunrise was simply eye opening as nine rocket engines were seen, heard and felt miles away. After the early morning experience, we made our way to buffet breakfast, then back to Kennedy Space Centre for a long day of preparation. After various bus trips back and forth from KSC to the Hotel, we finally managed to begin work as the proposal was released at 4:30 pm (2:30 am AEST). As we organised roles, settled into departments and figured out our tasks we collectively had to overcome social and language barriers in order to work as a team. We had to prepare ourselves for the next two somewhat sleepless nights filled with academic rigour and physical exhaustion.
Competition Format- Zachariah Belanszky
For the competition, we had to create a professional engineering tender to design, plan and build a floating and/or propelled settlement within the atmosphere of Venus in 2075. The objectives of the settlement included:
- Extraction of Oxygen and Nitrogen from the atmosphere, at an altitude of 50km above the surface. These gases will be used to provide essential support to settlements in the inner solar system
- Additional exploration and mining on the surface using exploration drones or EVAs.
- Development of novel technologies for future proofing space settlements.
- Safe and comfortable housing and recreation for 600 workers.
To do this, we were organised into four companies, which included
- 64 students, a four student senior executive leadership branch, 2 volunteer CEOs (past participants) and 5 departments- Business, Operations, Structural Engineering, Human factors and Mission Systems.
- Students from National and Regional Finals from across the USA, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, China, Australia, India, South Africa, Portugal and the UK.
The companies had to not only design the station and how it would work in a 49 slide deck, but present a 30 minute proposal with a business vision and answer questions for up to 10 minutes from a panel of expert judges
Sunday 26th- Competition Day 2- Isla Attard
The second day of the competition was in many ways the most stressful. Starting at Kennedy Space Centre, day 2 marked the point in the competition where we really got into the body of the work: designing the station, producing layouts and figuring out the details of our design.
The hardest part came late at night. With the tender due at 7 am the next morning, the night was the make-or-break point in our project. On top of that, we were tired and had started realising all the areas that needed more work (or to be reworked) despite the approaching deadline. In the end, many of the people from our school ended up leaving for bed in the deep hours of the morning...
Monday 27th- Competition Submission and Presentation- Lachlan Chadwick
After countless gruelling, sleepless hours, and a quick early morning kip, we basically worked right up to the 7:00 a.m. deadline to submit our final proposal. A wave of well deserved relief swept over us, but there was no time to rest. The day had only just begun. We shifted gears into professional mode, ready to deliver our presentation and face a panel of tough, scrutinising questions. As the winners were announced, tension gave way to celebration- despite not winning we were excited for our Aussie colleagues James Ruse who we had partnered with at Nationals. We were all winners after that effort. Together with our diverse and very talented partner companies and fellow students, we ended the day exploring the awe-inspiring NASA Kennedy Space Center, a fitting reward for a journey like no other.
Tuesday 28th- Return Travel- ORL - SFO -SYD - Luca Saprun
Our final day saw us experiencing world renowned ‘Wallmart’ and The Florida Mall before we had to board our flights back to Australia. The Florida Mall was very big with a lot of large retailers where we could explore and buy anything that we wanted. In our last 3 hours, we headed towards the Orlando Domestic terminal to board our flight to San Francisco which due to the weather our landing time was delayed, totalling 6 hours. This gave us one final problem in that we only had 30 minutes to get to our international flight! It cut it very close but we made it powerwalking through terminals. Our flight back was very smooth sailing until we were an hour or so from the coast of Australia. We had some very ‘entertaining’ turbulence till landing so inflight breakfast wasn't served. Once we landed and cleared customs we could all see our families which were waiting eagerly to see us. What an amazing experience!
This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was only made possible by the tremendous support of our Parents & Friends Association, who have provided significant and vital financial backing. We also gratefully acknowledge a significant grant from the NSW Office of the Chief Scientist & Engineer. The Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer is committed to encouraging students to consider a future career in a science-, technology-, engineering- or mathematics-related (STEM-related) field. The Office offers funding to NSW high school and tertiary students participating in STEM-related courses, competitions and events through several programs including the Science & Engineering Challenge, the Supporting Young Scientists Equity and Access Program and the STEM Student Competition Sponsorship Program.
This extraordinary opportunity would not have been possible without the incredible backing of our sponsors. Stile Education, our Premier Sponsor, has been instrumental in fostering STEM excellence at Magdalene, both in the classroom and now on the world stage. Their commitment to empowering young innovators is deeply appreciated. We also proudly acknowledge Midcity Group and Trade partners, our Platinum Sponsor, whose support extends beyond generous funding, Midcity has been a trusted partner in shaping the very landscape of our campus through their construction work.
Our heartfelt thanks also go to our Gold Sponsors, Melanie O’Connell – Mortgage Choice Camden, Rotary Club Gregory Hills- Next Gen, Rotary Club Macarthur- Sunrise, Allenza Architecture and PAN Spray Booths, long-standing allies with strong roots in our local community. And finally, a big thank you to Cherry Apparel, our Apparel Sponsor, for supplying the team with custom polos that reflect our pride and identity as representatives of Magdalene.
We congratulate our team and thank all who supported them on this exciting journey.
