Here at Pi Towers, Astro Pi fever is taking hold! Over the last few weeks there have been a number of things happening which we’re really excited about, so it’s time for an update.

The first and most crucial bit of news for those of you furiously writing your competition entries is that you now have just a little more time. UK Space, the organisation managing the competition, have decided to give secondary students a whole extra week. As we were a week late in shipping the kits to our phase 1 winners the deadline is now Monday the 6th of July, by 10am, so get cracking!

Put this date in your diary, don’t forget.

To help you get to grips with programming the Astro Pi HAT we’ve created a couple of helpful resources.

Firstly, you can find out all about the hardware, its capabilities and get a detailed breakdown of the Python library using our Astro Pi Guide. It explains in detail all aspects of the library and provides some examples of how to use them.

However, if you just want to have a play and learn as you go, check out our Getting Started with Astro Pi resource which works through a series of examples and explores most of the the Python library.

You will create a series of interesting programs which make use of all of the Astro Pi sensors like this reaction game.

There’s a great interactive demo for exploring the IMU (movement) sensor and you can also experiment with pressure, following Dave’s example:

Astro Pi HATs are also starting to appear in the wild — loads of competition entrants have been receiving their Astro Pi HATs and excitedly tweeting about it.

The waiting is nearly over (Really sorry it took longer than planned) MT @ChrisRush85 @astro_pi 's ready for lift-off pic.twitter.com/g4JlSGx3rs

— Astro Pi (@astro_pi) May 16, 2015

@astro_pi arrived in Penwortham lots of delighted faces as @astro_timpeake hello message scrolled across pic.twitter.com/yy1UmhBHBr

— Mary Mags Pi Club (@MaryMagsPiClub) May 20, 2015

Looking forward to coding our new #raspi for the #astropi pic.twitter.com/j6Md7Il0sw

— MeridianIT/Computing (@MeridianICTComp) May 20, 2015

My first look at the @astro_pi pic.twitter.com/wCuo5SJY3M

— Mruktechreviews (@mruktechreviews) May 22, 2015

Just for fun – @astro_pi snake. https://t.co/qaKPEJttSk

— Martin O'Hanlon (@martinohanlon) May 22, 2015

https://twitter.com/clcsimon/status/602588964927709184

@astro_pi We have lift off! #RaspberryPi #CodeNewbie pic.twitter.com/BdR8uUVd3R

— Miss T (@MissTurner101) May 19, 2015

Others within our community have been playing around creating examples and resources. The awesome Martin O’Hanlon has put together a getting started tutorial as well as building this amazing interactive Astro Pi in Minecraft:

Dan Aldred, one of our Raspberry Pi Certified Educators, has put together some great resources for using Astro Pi with his students. Visit his website to find a great language reference booklet.

We also have a number of examples compiled by Ben Nuttall and available on Github.

If you’re looking for more technical help with Astro Pi check out our Astro Pi forum.

As you can see we’re all super excited about the Astro Pi Launch! You can keep an eye on our progress as we get closer to lift-off by following social media channels. In the next few weeks the flight hardware is going to be assembled and tested!

PS

SPAAAAAAAAAAACCCCEEEE!!!!!!