CANTERBURY College student Charlie Johnstone will have lunch with NASA astronauts in America next year.
The year eight student from Bahrs Scrub won the opportunity after impressing judges in the origin Energy littleBIGideas competition.
Mr Johnstone’s innovative skills culminated in an eco-friendly granular furnace dual processor which re-purposed plastic PET bottles into 3D Printer Spools.
His project stood out among more than 3000 submissions to win first place in the Years 7-8 category.
NSW student Anthony Foong and Queenslander Hamish Lane also won national categories, earning them a trip to the USA.
Mr Johnstone, 14, said the idea to engineer his project came to him after brainstorming with his brother, who had an interest in 3D printing.
“We were thinking, what was a renewable way to do it? I thought PET plastic bottles use the same type of plastic in 3D printer spools so I thought there must be a way to use this resource as a 3D printer,” he said.
“I did a lot of research and wrote 16,000 words when going through my first plans.”
Read more: Formula one team bolting to nationals
Read more: Teaching cultural expertise
Read more: Robots enhance learning experience
Judging panelist and biomedical engineer Dr Jordan Nguyen said a great deal of thought and detail went into the project.
“It’s been incredible to see so many students submitting their inspiring and innovative ideas to help others and improve the world we live in,” he said.
“Charlie’s idea shows such great thoughtfulness, detail and creativity.”
Mr Johnstone is expected to travel to NASA Kennedy Space Center during Easter holidays in 2019.
He will visit the Epcot Theme Park at Disney World and Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum.
Mr Johnstone’s success comes after competing in a World Scholar's Cup Tournament of Champions at Yale university two weeks ago.
After smashing through qualifying rounds in Australia and Kuala Lumpur, Mr Johnstone competed against thousands of students in academic challenges including a debate, multiple choice quiz and 200 question test.
Mr Johnstone ranked 87th out of 15,000 students.
When asked what career path he would pursue after school, Mr Johnstone expressed interest in studying law at Harvard or Yale University.
