Member's statement: STEM and Rocketry for Schools
Member's statement by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on .
- MLA
- Dr Steve Aiken OBE
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 25 March 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- STEM and Rocketry for Schools
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4866215
Read the official Assembly record
Text
First, I will make a declaration of interest as chair of the all-party groups on STEM and aerospace. Last Friday, I had the enjoyable opportunity to attend the Northern Ireland schools rocketry final at RLC Aerospace's historic site at Langford Lodge on the shores of Lough Neagh. The more than 90 schoolchildren who took part had an exacting — I mean exacting — task. They had to build a rocket that would fly to 790 feet, plus or minus a few feet, and then separate, at which point its payload of two eggs — they were not hard-boiled — had to come down by parachute to be safely recovered. The schools and young persons' groups had to weigh, measure, work out the centre of gravity and do the design calculations themselves. Also, the schoolchildren had to build and design the rockets and bring them to the launch site. The launches themselves were spectacular, even when a few missions, to use SpaceX's terminology, had rapid unscheduled disassembly, but all the children had successful runs. The practical STEM lessons were there in abundance, with girls' and boys' teams using mathematical principles, computer-aided design and manufacturing and engineering techniques to make useable rockets. Being surrounded by those enthusiastic scientists and engineers was a testament not only to their skills but to the leadership and dedication of their teachers and group leaders. I particularly want to thank RLC, which hosted the event; Thales UK, which provided some of the prizes; Airbus UK; and Queen's University. I pay special thanks to ADS, which helped with the administration of the great event. Finally, well done to all who took part: Friends' School Lisburn, the Air Cadets, and the winners, Slemish College in Ballymena. Slemish's team of rocketeers now go to the UK finals at Farnborough. It the team wins there, it will represent all United Kingdom schools at the Paris Air Show. To paraphrase a certain Mr Armstrong, that was one small step for Slemish but a giant step for STEM.
335 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.06 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.73 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.17 |
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.05 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.04 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:07 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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