The five Dunstan High pupils were the only high school team in the ActInSpace contest held in Christchurch last weekend, but their idea so impressed judges they were selected for a special trip to France at the end of this month.
During the contest, teams work for 24 hours on real-life challenges alongside business mentors and technical experts to imagine and design innovative ways to use space technologies or space-acquired data.
Held around the world, the contests are organised by the French space agency and sponsored by Airbus.
The New Zealand event was hosted in Christchurch by the Alexandra-based Centre for Space Science Technology (CSST).
Dunstan team member Jake O’Malley (16) said the team could not reveal exactly how its idea worked, but it used the Galileo global navigation satellite system and was "basically augmented reality with street art — a good comparison would be something like Pokemon Go".
ActInSpace NZ event director Kelsi Doscher said the pupils were the youngest participating team "by far". Other teams were of university age.
They came in a close second with their idea, but the judges were so impressed they made a special decision to also send the team to France.
The team would be able to pitch its idea in front of an international audience of start-up investors and key space industry players, she said.
CSST chief executive, Steve Cotter said it was the "opportunity of a lifetime".
"They embodied the spirit of ActInSpace during the hackathon and pitched an idea that earned them second place and a special recognition by the judges and all those present at the event."
