A group of young people from a Stevenage school have been recognised as engineering stars of the future after creating a space rover.

Five Year 12 students at The John Henry Newman School took part in education charity EDT’s scheme which allows young people to work on a real-life six-month commercial project with a company.

The team – Joseph Coulson, Tom Walker, Finn McKeown, George Packham and Emily Hopkinson – worked with Airbus Defence & Space in Stevenage on a project to design and build a miniature rover.

The team presented their work to an expert panel and demonstrated that the rover was able to move on a simulated martian surface after solving engineering problems.

Airbus mentor David Ledger said: “I was constantly impressed with the high levels of commitment from the team who came up with a practical solution that impressed many of us.”

The school team said: “Every one of us has picked up multiple skills from this project and we now have experience of what it could be like to go into the engineering industry.”