152 THE OFFICIAL RASPBERRY PI BEGINNER'S GUIDE
T
he Raspberry Pi comes with support for a special type of add-on board called
Hardware Attached on Top (HAT). HATs can add everything from microphones and
lights to electronic relays and screens to the Pi, but one HAT in particular is very
special: the Sense HAT.
The Sense HAT was designed specially for the Astro Pi space mission. A joint project
between the Raspberry Pi Foundation, UK Space Agency, and European Space Agency, Astro Pi
saw Raspberry Pi boards and Sense HATs carried up to the International Space Station aboard
an Orbital Science Cygnus cargo rocket. Since safely reaching orbit high above the Earth, the
Sense HATs – nicknamed Ed and Izzy by the astronauts – have been used to run code and
carry out scientific experiments contributed by schoolchildren from across Europe.Chapter 7
As used on the International Space Station, the Sense HAT
is a multifunctional add-on board for the Raspberry Pi,
equipped with sensors and an LED matrix display