Cosmic SOS

This workshop is designed in the form of an adventure game with a focus on electromagnetic radiation and ionising particles. During this immersive open exploration experience, participants embark on an adventure as members of a spaceship crew. By using different types of detectors and solving various puzzles, they learn about the electromagnetic spectrum and cosmic background radiation.

For this activity, a range of detectors is employed, including the MiniPIX EDU detector, a radiation detector based on the MiniPIX silicon pixel technology, developed at CERN and specifically adapted for educational purposes. By allowing the participants to interact with these detectors first-hand and by highlighting their utilisation not only at experiments taking place at CERN, but also on the International Space Station (ISS) or on NASA’s Orion spacecraft, they will gain insight into the broader applications of detectors, which extend beyond the terrestrial laboratories to the frontiers of space exploration.

CERN plays a crucial role in aerospace, thanks to its remarkable technologies, facilities and know-how. You can learn more about CERN and aerospace here.

Material list

The adventure game consists of 6 challenges. Below, we present the equipment needed for each activity. Some activities require simple material, while some others use specialised equipment. We have added links to the specific equipment that we use, however it is possible to use alternatives.

In our adventure game, the maximum number of participants is 24, split into 6 groups of 4. We find that 4 participants per group is ideal, so that all members can actively participate.

General material:

Introduction slides
UV-safe goggles (if you plan to use a UV torch)
Box with locks (one lock per group) to open the final message

Material per group:

Worksheet + pen
Organisation boxes to place the materials of challenges 4-6, with serial code to identify the group
Equipment instructions

Challenge 1:

Circuit composed of 2-4 resistors (at least one of which is not connected to the circuit), an LED, a switch (optional), cables and a flat 9V battery
RGB torch
UV torch
IR camera

Challenge 2:

Prism
RGB torch
Fluorescent highlighters of various colours (e.g., yellow, orange, green, blue)
Optional: UV marker , hide a message on the worksheet

Challenge 3:

Electromagnetic spectrum cards

Challenge 4:

Geiger counter
Everyday slightly radioactive objects (e.g., UV beads, rock containing natural thorium)

Challenge 5:

LEGO pieces to make a MiniPIX EDU detector
LEGO booklet with building instructions

Challenge 6:

MiniPIX TPX detector
Laptop with Pixet Pro software
Everyday slightly radioactive objects (e.g., UV beads, rock, balloon with dust)
Pixel cards

TIMEPIX@school

TIMEPIX@school is a new CERN-led educational initiative designed to lower this barrier by bringing Timepix-based detectors, which were originally developed at CERN and are currently used in medical and space applications, into classrooms around the world. You can find out more here.

Related resources

You can find more about this workshop here.
You can read more in this article published in Science in School.

CERN Accelerating science