ISS space station gets new Raspberry Pis for young people’s experiments

The European Space Agency, in partnership with Raspberry Pi, is sending two modified Rapsberry Pi 4s to the International Space Station. Through the Astro Pi initiative, young people can submit experiments.

The new Astro Pi computers consist of a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 8GB of RAM, the High Quality camera module, a Google Coral accelerator for machine learning and sensors for color, light, temperature, humidity and pressure. The machines also have an accelerometer and gyroscope. The components are housed in a modified housing, which is made of aluminum and titanium.

In December, two of these Astro Pis will be transported to the ISS on a SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission. Once there, they will be installed and can be used from 2022.

Through the Astro Pi initiative, under the supervision of a teacher or mentor, young people under the age of 19 can submit projects that can be performed on the Raspberry Pis in the space station. Ideas for Mission Space Lab can be submitted until October 29. Projects can be registered for Mission Zero until March 18, 2022.

Astro Pi is an ESA education project in partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Currently, there are already Astro Pis on board the ISS; they were brought to the space station in December 2015. According to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, those copies have run code from 54,000 young people from 26 countries in recent years.