European Space Agency’sNewsletter on Education

No 2 March 2002

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http://www.estec.esa.nl/outreach

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Physics on Stage 2 1

Students and space technology make a dream come true 2

Couldn’t be without it! 3

Student experiments onboard FOTON M1 4

“Life in Space for Life on Earth” 4

The Earth Space Alphabet 5

EDUSPACE 6

SSETI spring workshops 9

The“Young Friends of the Agency”database 10

The Education Office and the World Space Week 2002: Space and daily life 12

Houston, we have a mission! 14

The 2002 Alpbach summer school 14

Successful Space Station Design Workshop 14

The ESA Education Office 15

What is ESA? 15

What’s coming up? 16

Dear EDUnews reader,

This second issue of the education newsletter for the

European Space Agency is published to coincide with the

Physics on Stage 2 festival, being hosted at ESTEC in the

Netherlands from 2-6 April.

As reported in January's newsletter, we are looking forward

to welcoming 400 teachers and educational experts from

22 European countries, who have been selected through

national events as the most motivating individuals with the

most innovative projects for teaching physics.

The programme for the week includes presentations from

the delegates, themed workshops, special theatrical

performances and a lively fair where participants can

showcase their work and exchange ideas. All ESTEC staff

are invited to pop in during the week and join the fun! See

www.physicsonstage.net for the programme and more

information.

Since the first issue of this newsletter, many new

developments have taken place in ESA's education projects,

as you will see from the wide range of articles inside. We

hope you enjoy this issue - feel free to send any comments

or suggestions to us at education@esa.int

Contents

The Dutch solar car Nuna, built fromEuropean space technology, won theWorld Solar Challenge, a 3010 km raceright across Australia for cars powered bysolar energy. Having set off from Darwinon Sunday 18 November, Nuna crossedthe finish line in Adelaide on Wednesday21 November in a record-breaking time of32 hours 39 minutes. The average speedof the car was 91 kilometres per hour, alsoa new record. On the fourth day Nuna hadto travel 830 km -never before hadsuch a distancebeen accomplishedwithin one day.But Nuna pushedthe limits bydriving at a topspeed of more than100 km per hour.

It must have been European know-howthat made Nuna leave all other 42 solarcars behind. The streamlined machinewas built by eight Dutch students fromthe universities of Delft and Amsterdam. Ituses advanced space technology, providedto the team via ESA’s Technology TransferProgramme, enabling the car to reach atheoretical top speed of over160 km per hour. The aero-dynamically optimised outershell consists of space-ageplastics to keep it light andstrong. The main body ismade from carbon fibre, rein-forced with Kevlar, a materialused in satellites, but now-adays also in high perform-ance equipment like bullet-

proof vests. The car’sshell is covered withthe best dual junc-tion and triple junc-tion gallium-arsenide solar cells,developed for satellites A smallstrip of solar cells on the side ofthe car is very special for a differ-ent reason: the communication

equipment is powered by a strip of cellsthat originally belonged to the NASA/ESAHubble Space Telescope. These cells were

part of a largesolar array, re-trieved by ESA astronaut Claude Nicollierand brought back to Earth in 1993 with aSpace Shuttle. They were donated to theAlpha Centauri Team as a special mascot.

To fulfil theirmission, the stu-dent team had col-lected an impres-sive line-up of sup-porters. ESA notonly providedthem with engi-neering supportvia its TechnologyTransfer Programme, but also withgeneral support from the EducationOffice, headed by former ESA astronautWubbo Ockels, who was also adviser tothe team. Dutch energy company Nuonwas the main sponsor, and the associationof plastic producers APME and theTechnical University of Delft strongly supported the team. An extensive tour isnow planned, visiting schools in theMember States of ESA. This educationalprogramme will emphasise the value ofspace technology for a more sustainable

world and show in a tangiblemanner how the dreams ofyoungsters can becomereality.

2EDUnews No 2 March 2002

Students and space technologymake a dream come true

On 21 November 2001 Nuna crossedthe finish line of the World SolarChallenge in Adelaide, AustraliaPhoto ANP

Wind tunnel tests performedon a scale model of theNuna

From start to finish theWorld Solar Challenge is3010 km

Testing Nuna on the DAFtest circuit at St. Oedenrode

Nuna entering Glendambo,the next to last control stopPhoto ANP

The Nuna vehicle with theAlpha Centauri Team Photo H-P van Velthoven

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Couldn’t be without it!

Couldn't be without it! is a new projectthat will be carried out jointly by ESA,ESO, CERN and EMBL. These four leadingresearch organisations aim to show howfundamental research is relevant to thedaily lives of Europeans and call attentionto the appealing and fascinating opportu-nities that lie ahead in the world ofresearch and development.

Modern technologies, such as tools anddevices, cures and therapies, or technicalservices that make life safer, more conven-ient and enjoyable, are everywhere - andwe use them as a matter of course. Buthow many people in Europe realise thatthe concepts behind such technologieswere once the stuff of fundamentalresearch?

In the course of the project Couldn't bewithout it! interested people in Europe willhave the opportunity to identify the topten technologies they ‘can't be without’.These preferred technologies will subse-quently be made known through themedia and live shows transmitted onthe Internet. It will be shown howthese top technologies haveemerged, and how they actually work. Moreover,people facing a choice ofcareer - thus, young

people in particular - can find out howthey might contribute to inventions thatEuropeans (and people in other parts ofthe world) ‘wouldn’t be without’ beforelong!

Couldn't be without it! will comprise fourmain activities: • A Europe-wide survey that will estab-

lish the top ten technologies that mostaffect people’s daily lives.

• Educational kits, distributed to catal-yse interest in the project amongstschool classes.

• A series of live webcasts in severalEuropean languages. These will showthe relationship between the top tenselected technologies and fundamentalresearch in simple language andattractive images. The main live-showwill take place during the 2002European Science and TechnologyWeek.

• The publication of the outcome of thesurvey on the web space, which is expected to become a useful, permanent, educational resource.

The official launch ofCouldn't be without it!will take place in the TechnopolisScience Centre in

Belgium on 22 March.

Couldn't be without it! isan initiative of the following EuropeanInternational ResearchOrganisations: CERN,the European Organi-sation for NuclearResearch, ESA, theEuropean Space Agency,ESO, the EuropeanSouthern Observatoryand EMBL, theEuropean MolecularBiology Laboratory. TheEuropean FusionDevelopment Agreement(EFDA), the EuropeanSynchrotron RadiationFacility (ESRF) and theInstitut Laue-Langevin(ILL) are also in-volved. The EuropeanCommission providesfunds to match thosecontributed by the par-ticipating organisations.

EDUnews No 2 March 2002

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Following the hugely successful parabolicflight campaigns, the Education Office isgiving students the opportunity to fly theirexperiments on FOTON in October 2002.FOTON is a Russian recoverable satellitewith a typical flight duration of around 15 to 20 days, and its objective is toconduct experiments in weightlessnesswith microgravity levels better than 10-5 g.It is derived from the Vostok family ofmanned capsules, which was used by YuriGagarin. For the first time ESA has offeredroom for 3 student experiments, weighingno more than 2.5 kg each, on a FOTONmission.

Floatin’ Proteins

Four students fromthe University ofYork are working onan autonomousexperiment that willgrow proteins in

microgravity conditions. This willhopefully give some physical resultson the gravitational effects on crystallattice structure and purity, but alsosome important chemical and biologi-cal information about the proteinsthemselves.

Winograd

The second experiment is being preparedby four undergraduates from theUniversity of Edinburgh, and involves theinvestigation of the effects of microgravityon the behaviour of microbial communi-ties. The experiment has two parts: thestudy of the arrangement and growth of acommunity of different types of bacteriawithin a Winogradsky column, and theeffect of gravity on the phototaxis (thecapacity to move towards a source of light)of these bacteria. This could have implica-tions for the transportation of microorgan-isms to other planets, as well as develop-ment of atmospheres away from Earth.

Chondro

Two students from the Swiss FederalInstitute of Technology in Zurich areworking on the development of an experi-ment that will investigate the growth of 3-dimensional cartilage structures fromtheir basic components, called chon-drocites. This experiment will try to helpin the development of new methods to arti-ficially produce good quality cartilages, sothat they can be used for implantation inhumans.

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Outreach experimentsonboard FOTON M1

EDUnews No 2 March 2002

Insulin grownon Earth

Insulin grownin space

“Life in Space for Life on Earth”Stockholm 2002

The ESA Life Sciences Symposium will take place inStockholm, Sweden from 2 to 7 June. Students from 4 different con-tinents have submitted their abstracts as part of a Young Researchers (YR) initiative forthe opportunity to present their research at the symposium and ‘win’ their expenses. Thetop YR has the chance to publish their full paper with Acta Physiologica Scandinavica.

European Universities will be able to connect via Learnlink (Internet-based software) tothe symposium live, with the aim to transmit to groups of students across Europe.Please contact Rebecca.Forth@esa.int if you are interested in participating.

Early registration continues until 5 April. For more information, please visit the websiteat: http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users/symposium/

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The Earth Space Alphabet: An educational dictionary for primary schools

ESA Education Office is developing a dictionary for primary schools combin-ing new methods of education in space,science, and art: the Earth SpaceAlphabet.

What is it all about?

The Earth Space Alphabet tries to meetthe overwhelming need that exists for edu-cation on space. It will give basic informa-tion about the Earth, space, space tech-nology and ESA missions. Kids have anatural interest in space, and theAlphabet will be attractive for primaryschool students from 6 to 11 years.

The objectives are• to involve primary school kids in space• to present what space is and how to

discover it• to provide educational and practical

experience for kids through an artisticand fun approach to space topics

• to increase the number of educationaltools offered by ESA.

Why is this alphabet special?

The Earth Space Alphabet will be a sort ofdictionary, with each letter of the alphabetexplaining one term accompanied by animage or drawing. Each letter has threeentries: one covering a term from EarthObservation, the second a term fromspace technology and the third generalspace terms and science. All aim at differ-ent age groups.

The dictionary will not only contain thisalphabet, but possibly also friezes andposters for the classroom, accompanied byworksheets. It is planned to give moredetailed information about selected termsbehind “doors” on the pages that the chil-dren can open like doors on an advent calendar – which will also add the fun ofdiscovery within the book!

Impact in the classroom/ at home

The kids will discover the words frommany angles and dimensions though theentertainment of the image and thecontent, linking art-drawing and science

with the help of their teachers or parents.The Earth Space Alphabet covers the following activities in the primary schoolcurriculum: mathematics, language, geography, history, arts and science.

If you want to contribute with your comments please do not hesitate to e-mail

us at education@esa.int

Contact person: Mónica Miguel Lago

EDUnews No 2 March 2002

This website has been developed underthe umbrella of EURISY by ESA and itsnational and industrial partners. It will beopened to all schools before summer2002. It aims to provide European stu-dents and teachers with a new learningand teaching tool, to offer an entry pointto space image data and in particular awide-spread visibility of Earth Observationapplications for science and day-to-dayuse. It encourages teachers to use EarthObservation data by providing ready-madeprojects. It is supposed to stimulate thecuriosity of students with attractiveimages and other resources and tools. Thesite also includes means to facilitate collaborative work with other schools,especially within Europe.

A site for beginners and experts

EDUSPACE addresses subjects linked tosatellites, computers, digital images, etc.at very different levels of understanding.Novices have to be encouraged, but at thesame time expert teachers have to be ableto find interesting material to work with.Therefore special attention is given toincluding a solid grounding on the tech-niques behind Earth Observation fromsatellites, which is remote sensing fromspace. This approach is richly illustratedand provides a complete overview of thedifferent aspects of how electromagneticenergy can be used to sense the Earth.The material on the website can be used inmany different ways – several databases

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EDUSPACE -The European Earth Observation website

for secondary schools

EDUnews No 2 March 2002

Peter BrøggerSørensen,

Aabenraa Gymnasium ogHF, Aabenraa, Denmark

Juerg Lichtenegger,

ESA/ESRIN, Frascati Italy

Emanuele Loret,

Liceo Classico Statale,Ariccia, Italy

Roger Nay,

SERCO, Italy

Birgit Strømsholm,

Norwegian Space Centre,Oslo, Norway

The EDUSPACE entry page

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are available, including small animationsthat can be used for teaching such sub-jects as geography, science and the envi-ronment, physics, chemistry, computerscience, and even arts. Ideas and relevantmaterial presented on the website can beused for just one or a series of lessons, butcan also be taken as a basis for a longerproject.

Contents and structure of the website

The website is free of charge for registeredschool classes and provides access toEarth Observation data from satellites.Moreover the presented data is linked toexercises for image interpretation and tothe use of simple, but also advanced techniques in digital image processing.EDUSPACE consists of a tree structurewith the following main branches:• Europe From Space • Global Change • Disaster Monitoring • Remote Sensing Principles • Image Processing Tools• School Network and Discussion Forum • News, Helpdesk and Links.

Each of these items has several sub-themes and in the deeper layers onecan find, for example, resources, back-ground information, project-ideas andfully developed case studies.

• Resources consist of databases ofsatellite images from different sensors,ready for selection and downloading.

• Projects are presented in the form ofsuggestions to teachers and students.They refer to activities connected withsatellite image interpretation. Someprojects are just easy exercises thatimply the use of tools and data available on the website, while otherscan be developed further, requiringteamwork or collaboration with otherschools throughout Europe.

• Case Studies are collections of material for more in-depth studies of aselected area. The topic is often of a general nature and the case can beseen as a practical application of geographically independent environ-mental issues. Case Studies includerich illustrations, satellite images, textsand links. The material can be usedeither following traditional workingmethods or can be downloaded, visualised and studied in a computer

environment, for which a dedicated PC-based software called LEOWorks isprovided. To use this tool a beginnerwill find an exhaustive tutorial.

• Background: links to illustrated textsrelated to the Case Study.

• Links: Specific links can be activatedto retrieve further information andmaterial from other sources worldwide.This will help students to collect factsand methods of work.

EDUnews No 2 March 2002

The first page of the theme “Global Change”, with on the left an overview of the EDU-SPACE website content

The image processing software LEOWorks allows novices to take the first steps in imagedata understanding and experts to do a full-scale image analysis

Some of the project ideas

The site hosts a growing quantity of teaching material and exercises. Here arejust some examples:

“My Home Town Seen from Space”.Students have to provide a detailed inter-pretation of a satellite image of the areawhere their school is located. Tiles ofsatellite images are included in the siteand are available free of charge. Differentideas are suggested, e.g. to produce a well-

annotated postcardsize satellite map ofthe hometown to bemailed/emailed tofriends or to a col-laborating school.EDUSPACE holdssatellite images anddescriptions of manycities in Europe withthe idea that aschool class wouldproduce a much-improved caption asa result of a project.Of course such areport is greatlywelcome and will beput on-line togetherwith the names ofthe authors!

“Interactive Meteosat”. A school thathas signed up for this project can deliverto the website a weather observation onceper day. This observation will automati-cally be shown in the Meteosat image ofthe day. Schools can examine all observa-tions for their particular location andthereby understand the local weatherchanges in time and space. The activity isconceived as an on-going project with nospecific start and end dates. Schools canjoin and leave the project at any time. It isalso meant to stimulate contacts betweenschools: in a collaborative project they canpropose and conduct in-depth work con-cerning meteorology, climatology, etc.

“The Alps from Space”. A view of the Alpsmade of high-resolution satellite data isavailable on the site. Students are invitedto zoom in and discover the alpine land-scape and environment. Exercises andproject ideas to explore areas of interest,such as the location of a school in a newand more synoptic mode are proposed.Satellite images might be compared with

photographs taken from scenic points andan interpretation key of space imagery canbe worked out.

The educational image processing toolLEOWorks

For registered classes, image processingsoftware can be downloaded free ofcharge. This software introduces teachersand students to the world of digital imageprocessing, then encourages them toexplore and finally to use it in a meaning-ful way. The different modules allow grey-scale and colour manipulation of an imagein a well-controlled and enjoyable way. Amore advanced student can find usefulapplications to enhance and analyse asatellite image and even perform an auto-matic classification. There are tools forimage annotation (to construct a satelliteimage map) and to extract image informa-tion (thematic information such as the

8EDUnews No 2 March 2002

One of the many images provided to students to workwith: the city of Copenhagen

EDUSPACE provides a full coverage of the Alps. TheAletsch Glacier is among the landscapes that can bemore closely inspected

Laboratory work for a school class visiting ESA/ESRINin Frascati, Italy

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perimeter of a town or the roads), whichcan be saved as layers of a geographicalinformation system.

A Network of Schools

EDUSPACE aims at stimulating the con-tacts between schools of Europe. After aschool has registered the informationbecomes available to all visitors. Withincertain projects such as the “InteractiveMeteosat” a possible partner will immedi-ately be visible, as the location and nameof the school will be included in theMeteosat image. Of course, the list of par-ticipating schools can be browsed and e-mail addresses extracted. EDUSPACEalso provides a helpdesk function whereteachers can post questions or sugges-tions – and also new material they or theirclasses have produced.

Outlook

The EDUSPACE Website will contain moresatellite data and more teaching materialas time progresses. The series of animatedviewgraphs will be enriched, and morecase studies and project ideas will beadded. The website database structure isconceived to hold different languagesusing the same illustrative material. It isenvisaged to provide at least French,German, Italian and Spanish translations.

EDUnews No 2 March 2002

Helpdesk: eduspace@esa.int

website: http://www.eduspace.eurisy.org

A visiting school class: After the presentation in ESRIN there was a field exercise usingmaps and satellite images

SSETI spring workshops

The objective of the Education Office’sStudent Space Exploration and SpaceInitiative (SSETI) is the distributed design,construction and launch of micro-satel-lites through a network of students, edu-cational institutions and organisations viathe Internet.

The many European students involved inthis ambitious project are due to embarkon its Phase-B, which is the detaileddesign of the satellite. A small workshopwill be held at ESTEC from 25 to 27February at which the system require-

ments will be reviewed, and another one,also at ESTEC, is scheduled from 22 to 26 April to which at least one student fromeach team has been invited and where thewhole spacecraft will become under criti-cal review, marking the end of Phase-B.

For more information, please consult thewebsites

http://www.estec.esa.nl/outreach/sseti/or

http:///www.sseti.net

Contact the EDUSPACE team for furtherinformation or just to pay us a visit!

The European Space Agency, in line withits commitment to stimulate youngEuropean to purse a career in Science andTechnology, has started a broad range ofinitiatives and projects. We believe in themarketing approach, i.e. attractiveness,and this can surely be enhanced by usingmodern communication tools.

Hence, we have developed the “YoungFriends of the Agency” database, whichwill provide a user-friendly, truly interac-tive online platform through which youngEuropeans will get to know the educa-tional side of ESA. Our experience showsthat there are thousands of young peoplein all European countries and beyond thatare eager to know how they can getinvolved in something as motivating andchallenging as building a micro-satellitewith fellow students spread all overEurope or participating in a major world-wide space event or eventually spending atraining period among ESA experts. Butwe also know that sometimes the informa-tion is not distributed in an effective way.Today, the Internet gives us a terrific toolto reach out to millions of people andcreate virtual communities around anygiven theme. This is what we would like toachieve with this database. We have triedto keep it simple to use and we are confi-dent this will allow us to take full advan-tage of the potential of the web.

The database will be an important elementof the ESA Educational Portal(http://www.esa.int/education). A firstlevel of the database will be reserved for amore general public. After a few clicks andentering a little basic information, everyinterested individual will become part of alarge community of like-minded peopleinterested in space subjects, space explo-ration and technology and their educa-tional implications. Those registered willregularly be informed of the ESA activities

in the field of space education, relatedopportunities and more.

The most interesting and challengingfeature, however, will be reserved foryoung Europeans qualifying for one of theESA traineeship programmes. ESA offersa wide range of traineeships (YoungGraduate Trainee scheme, internships,etc.) and a few others are being initiated(e.g. PhD Grants scheme). Their educa-tional value is enormous both for the indi-viduals and for European industry andresearch. These potential candidates willbe directed to the relevant part of the site.They will find all of the information aboutopportunities offered by ESA, its workingenvironment and professional fields. Thiswill allow them to make the right choicebased on a wealth of information.

The site will of course enable on-line com-pletion of the application form with addi-tional features like predefined fields andthe possibility to attach further docu-ments of interest. Once the applicationprocess is completed, along with theacknowledgement of their application, reg-istered individuals will receive an ID and apassword.

Such a tool will provide ESA managementwith a constantly up-to-date, searchabledatabase that will not only ease andstreamline the pre-selection process fortrainees, but will also permit an upstreamanalysis of the available skills and thepossible shortcomings.

We are confident that this website willsoon become a very useful tool for would-be trainees and ESA staff and managersalike. We invite you all to let us have yourcomments and views on it in order tomake it more and more responsive to yourneeds.

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The “Young Friends of the Agency” database –

a new interactive tool for enhanced communication with young Europeans

EDUnews No 2 March 2002

11EDUnews No 2 March 2002

An ESA Special Event in connection with the

World Space Week 20026 and 7 October

ERASMUS ISS User Information Centre ESA/ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

The European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with UNESCO, is invitingthe general public, educators and students to ESA/ESTEC in TheNetherlands, as part of the World Space Week 2002 activities.

ESA/ESTEC is opening the doors to the International Space StationInformation Centre for two days of SPECIAL EVENTS*:

Sunday 6 October

GENERAL PUBLIC - OPEN DAY

• Astronaut presentations on‘Space and Daily Life’

• Unique tour ‘backstage’ at Europe’s largest Space facility

• 3D tour of the International Space Station

Monday 7 October

EDUCATION DAY

• Educational information from a European Astronaut on ‘Space and Daily Life’

• Unique tour ‘backstage’ at Europe’s largest Space facilities

• 3D tour of the International Space Station

For more information and to register for these SPECIAL EVENTS visit www.esa.int/worldspaceweek

World Space Week Official Website: http://www.spaceweek.org*Events of interest to visitors/students aged 12 and above

Essay Contest UNESCO, in cooperation with the European Space Agency and other space agencies, is holdingan international essay contest for students on the World Space Week theme 2002 “Space andDaily Life”. The aim of the contest is to encourage students all over the world to think about howspace is affecting, improving and helping them in their daily life. Students will put forward their ideason how space will influence the development, security and well-being of society in the future. The contest is open to all high-school students between 15 and 18 years. For more information, please visit the UNESCO website: http://www.unesco.org/science/earthsciences

Winter School for PhD StudentsSatellite Applications to Archaeology,

Natural Site Monitoring and Urban Planning

Calling all students in the second or final year of their PhD thesis involving remote sensing techniques! EURISY and theInternational Space University are holding a Workshop from 31 October to 4 November, in Strasbourg, France on thetheme of archaeology and urban planning. This event will be co-sponsored by the European Space Agency and UNESCO.

Under the patronage of Professor Hubert Curien, President of EURISY, the aim is to bring together twenty selected PhD students for a series of lectures and workshops in the company of international experts.

Closing of this event on Monday 4 November, or for those who are interested in the possibility of participating in a conference entitled "Space Applications for Heritage Conservation", and organised by EURISY, with co-sponsorship fromthe Council of Europe, the European Space Agency (ESA), the International Space University (ISU), NASA and UNESCO.

For further details on the Winter School and Conference: http://www.eurisy.asso.fr

Call for Candidates

For several years now, the United Nationshave declared the week from 4 to 10October “World Space Week”, 4 Octoberbeing the celebration of the launch ofSputnik 1 in 1957, and 10 October theanniversary of the first treaty on space in1967. A theme is defined every year, onwhich projects at local, regional, nationalor international level are developed. The“Spaceweek International Association” is responsible for the co-ordination of the events. The official website ishttp://www.spaceweek.org.

The Education Office has decided topropose a project this year to make youngEuropeans imagine their future, applyingtheir knowledge from school. We will askthem to think about what life in space willbe like in 45 years’ time (as 2002 is the45th anniversary of the launch ofSputnik), giving special thought to a permanent establishment on Mars.

Our project Space and daily life… in 45years – the case of the Martian Base isbeing developed with Parsec, a French

education association (http://www.astrorama.net). Teachers will be free tochoose the emphasis they want to put onthe project according to the age of the chil-dren or the discipline they teach.

Disciplines that could be involved:

• Life sciences: what exists on Earth thatmakes it habitable for human beings,and what exists or should be made onMars so that human beings can livethere (air, temperature, water, food)

• Physics / chemistry: which technolo-gies exist on Earth that will be neededon Mars (electricity, manufacturing ofwater and atmosphere, vehicles on thesurface of Mars or between Mars andEarth, communications)

• Maths: calculation of surfaces (habita-tion, cultures), volumes (air, water),masses (food, propellants), distances(travel, speed of light for communica-tions) associated to human habitationand living

• Arts / architecture: design a base thatwill provide all basic needs for man

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The Education Office and the World Space Week 2002:

Space and daily life

Contact: Isabelle

Duvaux-Béchoneducation@esa.int

EDUnews No 2 March 2002

The United Nationshave declared 4 to 10 October “WorldSpace Week”.

Orbit: 227940000 km (1.52 AU) mean distance from Sun

Diameter: 6794 kmMartian day: 24 hours, 37 minutes and 22 secondsMartian year: 669 Martian days, 687 Earth daysAverage 218 K (-55° C)temperature:Minimum 140 K (-133° C) (at the winter pole)temperature:Maximum 300 K (27° C) (summer dayside)temperature:Surface area: about the same as the land surface area of

the Earth

• Geology/geography (choice of theterrain), psychology or sociology(number of people, choice of the profes-sions, what has to be provided to themfor a “good” life)

This project is adaptable to various agegroups, from primary (with simple analy-sis) to secondary level, with deeper analy-sis of the necessary technologies. In thebest case, all disciplines should be com-bined. Classes, groups and individualscan compete. In all cases, the choicesmade for the project have to be explainedand justified, thus also exercising lan-guage skills (mother tongue or foreign lan-guages).

The children will have to discuss what isneeded, whether it exists on Mars, or howit can be provided. The teacher will haveguidelines for the systems that have to beplanned. This activity is supposed to takeplace during the World Space Week itself,and proposals should therefore be sent toESA before 31 October. National winnerswill be selected based on the completenessor innovation of the project and solutions.From these, European winners will bechosen. Their projects will be presented onthe website. The European winners will

EDUnews No 2 March 2002

then be able to compete at World level withall the projects of the World Space Week.

The project can be found onhttp://www.esa.int/education and will beincluded in a printed document groupinga selection of World Space Week projectstranslated into the various languages of the ESA Member States. Questions concerning the project or requests toreceive the paper copy (mentioning thelanguage needed) should be sent to education@esa.int as from 1 May.

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“The New Face of Space” is thetheme of the 53rd world congressand exhibition of the InternationalAstronautical Federation (IAF), thelargest international space organi-sation linking governments, scienceand industry. This year, the IAFcongress will be held together withthe 34th scientific assembly ofCOSPAR in Houston, Texas, from 10 to 19 October 2002 as WorldSpace Congress 2002 and will high-light the essential role of space incurrent and future communicationnetworks.

The European Student OutreachProgramme to the IAF (a EuropeanSpace Agency initiative) encouragesthe youth of Europe to activelyprepare for, and participate in, thebuilding of their future through abetter knowledge of (space) technol-ogy and sciences, with the aim of

ensuring an appropriately skilledworkforce for the 21st century.

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Houston, we have a mission!ESA has initiated a project in closeco-operation with the local organi-sation and the IAF to sponsor thetravel and accommodation for a sig-nificant number of European stu-dents to attend the World SpaceCongress.

We invite you on behalf of ESA andthe IAF to participate in this event.Full details on how to apply and theterms of participation are explainedon our website: http://www.estec.esa.nl/outreach/iaf

We hope to see many of you inHouston in October!

If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us at

student.iaf@esa.int

EDUnews No 2 March 2002

Successful Space Station Design WorkshopThirty students from all over Europetook up the challenge of designing aspace station and coming up withother innovative ideas during theSpace Station Design Workshop

organised at ESTEC from 17 to 23February 2002 in ESA's unique"Concurrent Design Facility". Thestudents were divided into two com-peting teams and had to fulfil amission statement generated byESA in close co-operation with theUniversity of Stuttgart. The interdis-ciplinary approach to the task ofdesigning a space station favoured,in addition to aerospace engineering

For more information on the work-shop, please consult the websites

http://www.estec.esa.nl/outreach/SSDW/

http://www.irs.uni-stuttgart.de/SSDW/

students, the participation of stu-dents specialised in architecture,law and business administration.The highlight of the first day of theworkshop was a three-hour sketch-ing class giving a different perspec-tive on design work. After an excit-ing and challenging week, theresults were unveiled on the last dayof the workshop during a gradua-tion ceremony and a reception.

The 2002 summer school will take place from 23 July to1 August in Alpbach, Austria, and its focus will be on“Space Weather - Physics, Impacts and Predictions”.Participants will hear about the impact of space weatherevents on technological systems in space and on theground, scientific instruments and data sets for spaceweather applications. Two competing teams will design anOperational Space Weather Mission, a Space Weather DataCentre and a Space Weather Prediction Centre.

More information is available at: http://www.asaspace.at/alpbach/alpbach.htm

The 2002 Alpbach summer school

15EDUnews No 2 March 2002

The European Space Agency is Europe’s gateway tospace. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’sspace capability and ensure that investment in space con-tinues to deliver benefits to the people of Europe.

ESA has 15 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Denmark,Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands,Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and theUnited Kingdom. Canada has special status and partici-pates in some projects under a cooperation agreement.By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources ofits members, ESA can undertake programmes and activ-ities far beyond the scope of any single European country.ESA is an entirely independent organisation, although itmaintains close ties with the European Union with whomit shares a joint space strategy.

ESA’s job is to draw up the European space plan andcarry it through. The Agency’s projects are designed tofind out more about the Earth, its immediate space environment, the Solar System and the Universe, as wellas to develop satellite-based technologies and promoteEuropean industries. ESA also works closely with spaceorganisations outside Europe to share the benefits ofspace with the whole of mankind.

ESA has its headquarters in Paris and it is here thatfuture projects are decided upon. However, ESA also has centres throughout Europe, each of which has different responsibilities:

• ESTEC, the European Space Research andTechnology Centre, is the design hub for most ESAspacecraft and is situated in Noordwijk, theNetherlands.

• ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre, isresponsible for controlling ESA satellites in orbit, andis in Darmstadt, Germany.

• EAC, the European Astronaut Centre, trains astro-nauts for future missions and is situated in Cologne,Germany.

• ESRIN, the European Space Research Institute, is sit-uated in Frascati, near Rome in Italy. Its responsibili-ties include collecting, storing and distributing satel-lite data to ESA’s partners and acting as the Agency’s information technology centre.

In addition, ESA has liaison offices in the United States,Russia and Belgium, a launch base in French Guiana,and ground and tracking stations in various parts of theworld.

ESA’s mandatory activities (Science Programme and thegeneral budget) are funded by a financial contribution from all the Agency’s Member States, calculated in accordance with each country’s grossnational product. In addition, ESA conducts a number ofoptional programmes. Each country decides in whichoptional programme it wishes to participate and theamount of its contribution.

What is ESA?

The ESA Education OfficeEducation is one of the mandatory activities of the Agency, and the Education Office tries to reach out to students, teachers and the general public throughout Europe.

Wubbo J. Ockels is the Head of the Education Office

Isabelle Duvaux-Béchon is responsible for primary and secondary school education, ESA internal co-ordination and the new ESA Education website development;

Piero Messina deals with universities and other higher education institutions as well as education-related organisations (e.g. Eurisy);

Corinne Flandy keeps a professional eye on our budgets, commitments, contractual arrangements etc.

Llierni Arana looks after the SSETI virtual community;

Mónica Miguel Lago is now developing material for kids using space and remote sensing;

Caroline Pujol organises the IAF Outreach Programme that will take some 200 European students to Houstonfor the World Space Congress in October this year;

Inaki Rodriguez Rebolledo maintains contacts with European Student Organisations and organises the Fotonflight opportunity for students;

José Sanchez Troncoso is the expert on IT, web and databases;

Nicole Sentse is in charge of the Student Parabolic Flights Campaign that will take place in Bordeaux next July;

Helen Wilson co-ordinates Physics on Stage. She is also involved with the educational activities of EIROForum.

EDUnews

Coordinator: Piero MessinaContact: education@esa.intEditor: Barbara WarmbeinDesign & Layout: Eva Ekstrand

Published and distributed by:ESA Publications DivisionESTEC, Keplerlaan 1 2200 AG Noordwijk The NetherlandsPhone: (+31)71 565 3400Fax: (+31)71 565 5433

© 2002 European Space AgencyPrinted in The Netherlands

ISSN 1682-8941

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What’s coming up:The final event of Physics on Stage 2 will take place at ESTEC from 2 to 6 April 2002.Check http://www.physicsonstage.net

The ESA Life Sciences Symposium will take place in Stockholm, Sweden from 2 to 7 June. Further information at http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users/symposium/

Beyond the ISS: The Future of Human Spaceflight. The 7th ISU Annual InternationalSymposium will be held in Strasbourg from 4 to 7 June.http://www.isunet.edu/other_programs/symposium.htm\

The 5th Student Parabolic Flight Campaign will take place in Bordeaux, France in July 2002. More information at http://www.estec.esa.nl/outreach/parabollic/

The 2002 Alpbach Summer School will take place from 23 July to 1 August, and itsfocus will be "Space Weather - Physics, Impacts and Predictions”. More information at:http://www.asaspace.at/alpbach/alpbach.htm

ESA is supporting the World Space Week that will take place from 4 to 10 October2002. More information at http://www.spaceweek.org/

ESA is inviting European students to the World Space Congress in Houston, Texas, USAfrom 10 to 19 October 2002. For more information and application please visithttp://www.estec.esa.nl/outreach/iaf

The Eurisy Winter School will bring together PhD Students and experts on the theme“Archaeology and Urban Planning” in Strasbourg France from 31 October to 4 November. This will be followed by the conference “Space Applications for HeritageConservation”. Further info at http://www.eurisy.asso.fr

If you would like to sign up for or inform us about a specific event, please send an e-mailto education@esa.int