The event gave students the chance to ask Dr Daniel Arthur questions about his work – including his involvement in the construction of the Mars rover.
As well as hosting the assembly live from his home in Perth, in Western Australia, he also shared a video with Grouville School students and Jersey College for Girls.
Perseverance is the most recent rover to land on Mars, touching down in the planet’s Jezero Crater last month.
It is looking for signs of ancient life and collecting rock samples, while also testing new technology to help future exploration missions on the planet.
Dr Arthur helped design the rover’s drill, which could potentially take the rock samples back to Earth for testing.
Speaking to the children, he said he hoped that his assemblies inspired pupils ‘to become the next generation of scientists and engineers’.
St Clement’s School headteacher, Richard Heaven, said: ‘Daniel described the importance of learning from mistakes as a Nasa engineer, continually improving and testing designs.
‘Encouraging children to learn from mistakes is one of our core values at St Clement’s School and has been an important skill during this week’s science investigations.
‘This was a special event for me, personally, as Daniel was in the very first class I taught as a newly qualified teacher at St Clement’s.’
