Solar System Trails is a family run business based on the West Coast of Ireland with manufacturing partners on three continents.
Years ago, we took part as a family in our daughter’s school project. We wanted to see what effect setting an outdoor model of the Solar System would have. Whilst globes help us visualise the Earth; it is much harder to envision the Solar System as a single unit that moves through the galaxy.
A scaled model of the Solar System cannot fit on the page of a science book, a classroom wall or a museum exhibit-hall. It demonstrates the relative size and space between the Sun and planets, as if we shrunk the Solar System down to the size of our trail.
Luckily our daughter’s school had grounds for a long trail starting from a 20-inch-wide Sun, passing by a 4.6mm wide Earth 180 ft away and ending with a 2/3-inch Neptune one mile away! It was certainly a moving experience for students to get up from their chairs and run between planets in a vast 3D Solar System model but aside from being a fun science practice they gained a new ‘space perspective’ of a vast environment they could now relate to, our place in the Solar System. We felt by the feedback that everyone would benefit from the experience and so we decided to make ready-to-install Solar System Trails widely available.
A mother commented on how she wished there was something her son could listen to while they walked the trail as she couldn’t answer all of his questions. This led to the development of the X-Trails App and Audio Guide which offers fun and educational content for younger and older visitors alike. The App is the collaborative work of scientists, writers, space artists, voice actors and a 10 year old girl that wrote the poems for Mission to Mars. It offers interactive fun STEM education for all ages.
Ultimately, they put us in touch with our place in Space. The Universe and our presence in it are awe inspiring, it is our aim and hope to encourage that appreciation in others.