‘habla iss’: the project · esa in human spaceflight. based on these insights, we created our...

http://www.esa.int/education

Interview with Frank de Winnepages 15 - 17

pages 18 - 19

page 20

European Space Agency’sNewsletter on Education

No. 5 November 2003

‘Habla ISS’: The Project

2EDUnews No 5 November 2003

Editorial 2

Summer School Alpbach 2003 3

ISU Summer Session 3

GLOBE in Croatia 4

Life in Space 4

Pulling threads – Ariadna 5

It’s relatively parabolic 6

Physics on Stage, 3rd edition 8

Norwegian Space Education 10

‘Habla ISS’: The Project 11

Interview with Frank de Winne 15

Under African Skies 18

Photo Gallery 20

Aurora Programme 22

What’s coming up 24

Contents

Editorial

According to Agenda 2007, the plan proposed for

the future of ESA by ESA’s new Director-General

Jean-Jacques Dordain, there is a growing aware-

ness of the importance of education at interna-

tional level. The development of an Education

Programme is one of the objectives proposed in the

Agenda, objectives which are for attainment within four years. They also include an

evolution of the ESA / European Union Framework Agreement and a global increase

of activities managed by ESA.

In support of the Member States and of the European institutions ESA is building

up an Education Programme with two main target groups: young Europeans below

the age of 18 for whom space is a source of inspiration and motivation for future

choices, and students above 18 who have already made a career choice and are

looking for high-level education and an open door to the working world.

Activities with cooperating states and international organisations are already part of

ESA’s education policy. The Physics on Stage programme, for example, promotes the

improvement of physics and science teaching all over Europe. It was originally set

up by three of Europe’s leading research organisations (CERN, ESA and ESO) as

part of the European Week for Science and Technology 2000. Since then the project

has evolved, all organisers are members of the EIROforum whose proposal for a

European Science Teachers Initiative has recently been submitted to the European

Commission. The future of projects like Physics on Stage (that will soon become a

more comprehensive Science on Stage) lay in the framework of continuous coopera-

tion and exchange between institutions and international organisations.

This fifth issue of EDUnews focuses on education activities for teachers. It also

includes a pedagogical central folder for primary schools on the mission of Pedro

Duque to the International Space Station. Try the exercises in your classroom and

send us your feedback! We hope you will enjoy it.

Walter Thiebaut

Head of Administration and Education

This year’s – the 27th – Alpbach SummerSchool welcomed 55 students from differ-ent ESA Member States. The participantshad to design visionary and credible spacemissions that could form the core forhuman spaceflight activities after theInternational Space Station.

Two astronauts, ESA’s Claude Nicollierand NASDA’s Chiaki Mukai talked aboutwhat is means to be an astronaut andprovided the important point of view of thecrew. Throughout the two weeks theSummer School students participated in aseries of workshops. The purpose of theworkshops was to foster the practicalapplication of knowledge from the lec-tures, to develop organisational and teamskills and to encourage creativity. Fourteams competed for the best project,judged by an independent internationaljury, chaired by Prof. Roger Bonnet,former ESA Director of Science andDirector of the International SpaceScience Institute, ISSI.

The work culminated in the design of thefollowing space missions:• A tourism-based commercial venture-

based on a lunar habitat, with ISS as astepping-stone: Project “Honee Moon”;

• A far-term expanded exploration strategy for Mars: Project “M.A.R.S. (MarsAttractive and Really Sexy)”;

• A manned mission to a near-Earthasteroid: Project “A P E X - AsteroidPerturbation and Exploration”;

• An early manned mission to Mars:Project “Project M3 - Building anOrbiting Station Around Mars”

The projects were subsequently submittedto ESA’s Aurora Student Design Contest.One of the projects, “Project M3”, wasselected among the finalists of the contestand was presented at the AuroraAcademia Workshop on 8/9 September inBarcelona. This is a further indication ofthe high quality of work accomplished bythe students participating in the AlpbachSummer School.

EDUnews No 5 November 2003

Summer School Alpbach 2003„Working and Living in Space: from ISS to Moon and Mars”

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Strasbourg, France - The Summer SessionProgram (SSP) of the International SpaceUniversity (ISU) closed with the partici-pants' Team Project presentations and theClosing Ceremony in Strasbourg, France,on 4 and 5 September 2003 respectively.

At ISU, students work in interdisciplinaryand intercultural teams of 30 to 50 gradu-ate-level students and young space profes-sionals to perform a comprehensive analy-sis and propose innovative recommenda-tions on a topic of relevance to the spacesector. The intensive programme laststhree months; this year, 107 students par-ticipated. The main objectives of the TeamProjects are to encourage participants toput into practice what they learned duringthe SSP, to contribute with their own edu-cational and professional backgrounds, toexperience decision-making and organis-ing team work in a multidisciplinary and

intercultural environment, andto produce a comprehensivereport of a professional level tobe presented in a publicsession. After the SSP, thesereports are also going to be pre-sented at international confer-ences and meetings.

The participants of the Climate Changeproject, for example, decided to focus on"the development of a framework to betterunderstand the abrupt climate changephenomenon in the North Atlantic regionthrough the application of space technol-ogy". In addition to ISU's own faculty, thiswork benefited from experts made avail-able by Université Louis Pasteur inStrasbourg, Météo France, EUMETSATand from the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration -NOAA- inthe USA.

For more informationon ISU and futureSummer Session

Programs, seewww.isunet.edu

ISU Summer Session

Michaela Gitsch

ASA

Approximately 400 students, teachers andscientists from 23 countries around theworld met during the 2003 GLOBELearning Expedition (GLE) in Sibenik,Croatia. The GLE was organised by TheGLOBE Program®, a worldwide hands-on,primary and secondary school-based edu-cation and science programme, and theCroatian Ministry of Education andSports. Students presented research pro-jects and showcased how easily real EarthScience environmental data can be usedfor science projects. The students also hadtwo days of fieldwork at Krka NationalPark and on the island of Obonjan. TheGLE gave the students an opportunity toexperience and take Earth Science mea-surements in a new environment and

learn from each other and the GLOBE sci-entists. For the full story and more aboutGLOBE, please see: www.globe.gov"

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Dr. Sven Baerwalde

German AerospaceCenter, DLRSpace Operationsand SpaceTechnologies, GLOBEManagement

Marie Diop, ESA-ESTEC (MSM /GS)

Visit the websitefor more

information:www.globe.gov


GLOBE in Croatia

GLOBE is a cooperative effort of schools, led in the United States by a Federal intera-gency programme supported by NASA, NSF, EPA and the U.S. State Department, inpartnership with colleges and universities, state and local school systems, and non-government organisations.

Garry Randolph from GLOBE Headquarters in front ofa weather shelter explaining how to do weather meas-urements accurately.

Over a period of two weeksEuropean life sciences stu-dents had the opportunity toattend the "Life in Space"course in the LaboratoireArago in Banyuls-sur-Mer,France. This ERASMUS-supported programme wascoordinated by the univer-sities of Paris VI,Nottingham, Bonn,

Madrid and Sassari. For the secondtime in the history of "Life in Space", ESAwas a supporting part of the programme. In several lectures we got to know theimportant role of microgravity on lifeprocesses and the great involvement ofESA in human spaceflight.

Based on these insights, we created ourown spaceflight experiments (including“Aging process concerning the thelomereshortening”, “Stemcells developmentunder microgravity conditions”,“Orientation of water insects under micro-gravity conditions in small internationalgroups”). This meant not only a significantimprovement of our team working skillsand research abilities, but also anincrease in our knowledge of humanculture. The experiences we made and friendshipswe formed in the amazing surrounding ofthe "Laboratoire Arago" left a permanentmark in our memories. For the future wehope that more students will be able tomake the same enriching experiences thatwe made.

Life science students learnabout “Life in Space”


Will spacecraft travelling through inter-planetary space be able to determine theirpositions by using signals from dead starsas astronomical clocks? Can artificialmuscles made from electro-active poly-mers one day replace mechanical parts inspacecraft? Will it ever be possible to con-ceive an interstellar highway in whichspacecraft journey across the galaxy usingthe delicate gravitational balance betweenneighbouring stars? These are just someof the imaginative, futuristic concepts thatwill be studied in the first call for propos-als issued under a new ESAinitiative named Ariadna.

Managed by the ESAAdvanced Concepts Team(ACT) on behalf of theAgency’s AdvancedConcepts and StudiesOffice, Ariadna willstrengthen the existinglinks between ESA and theEuropean academic com-munity.

Ariadna will be devoted toshort, inexpensive studiesinvolving research intoradical new space technolo-gies. The main categories ofinterest will be:• Fundamental Physics.

Focus on gravitationalphysics and quantummechanics.

• Advanced power systems:Research beyond photo-voltaic systems.

• Advanced propulsion:Innovative in-space andaccess-to-orbit propul-sion systems.

• Mission analysis anddesign: Development oftrajectory design strate-

gies and novel mission concepts.• Mathematics and Informatics: Research

into advanced computing systems andmathematical tools.

• Biomimicry: Developing technology byimitating biology.

Small ESA contracts will be awarded toteams of research institutes and academicdepartments to perform work directlyrelated to the objectives of the ACT.

Pulling threads –Ariadna to boost advanced spaceresearch in Europe

Torsten Bondo

Advanced ConceptsTeam

More informationon Ariadna and the

first Call forProposals can be

found at:www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna.html

Contact:Torsten Bondo

Advanced ConceptsTeam

ESTEC, Noordwijk,the Netherlands

Tel.:+31 –71-565-8426

Fax::+31-71-565-6024

E-mail:[email protected]

The conception of a project

No April fool’s joke: On1 April we learned that ourteam was selected for the6th ESA Student ParabolicFlight Campaign (SPFC).This is the start of anincredible journey. In onlyfour months – and thosemonths include universityexams! – we have to design,fund and build the experi-ment we proposed. Our goalis to test one of the majorprinciples of modernphysics, namely the factthat the speed of light invacuum c is supposed to be constant anddoes not depend on the motion of the ref-erence frame. Previous experiments havealready tested the dependence of thespeed of light on the relative speed of thereference frame. But our set-up allows us

to search for a possible dependence of c onthe acceleration of the frame. Conditionsin a parabolic flight are ideal because thevariations of the acceleration of the air-plane are almost 2000 times larger than inprevious tests.

Our experimental set-up uses an infraredlaser source whose intensity is modulatedat high frequencies (450 MHz). Theemitted light travels towards a receiveralong a monomode optical fibre of 1 metre.The phase shift between the emitted andreceived modulation signals is directlysensitive to a possible variation in thevelocity of light. Both signals as well as theacceleration of the plane were continu-ously monitored and stored in computermemory during the flights.

6

Fabian Guisset,Séverine Ovyn,Gregor Pfyffer,Vinciane René deCotretD. Bertrand, J.Govaerts, Gh.Grégoire

Université catholiquede Louvain, Institutde PhysiqueNucléaire

B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve

The completedescription of the

project and prelim-inary results areavailable on the

website:www.aptovol.tk


It’s relatively parabolic:APTOVOL - A Parabolic Test Of the constancyof the Velocity Of Light

Fabian Guisset, Séverine Ovyn, Gregor Pfyffer and Vinciane René de Cotret are sciencestudents in the Belgian University of Louvain-la-Neuve. Together with their supervisorsDamien Bertrand, Jan Govaerts and Ghislain Grégoire they designed the “APTOVOL”experiment to test the constancy of the speed of light to fly it on the 6th StudentParabolic Flight Campaign.

A member of the Belgian team during the flight

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The flight

The two-week campaign in Bordeauxstarted on 15 July with several days tofinalise our experiment before installing itin the A300 Zero-G airplane. At the sametime, we had to make minor adaptationsto our set-up to comply with safety regula-tions. Then the microgravity experiencestarted: during a test flight of five parabo-las we were forced to remain on our seats.During the next days, each team memberenjoyed a full flight with 31 parabolas,experiencing about 13 minutes of zerogravity.

Back on the ground

The scientific campaign does not end withthis first adventure! Back in Belgium, wealready rushed through a preliminaryanalysis of some 4000 files of recordeddata and studied the correlation betweenthe acceleration and the phase anglebetween emitted and received light beams.The promising results have been pre-sented at the ESA’s Parabolic Flight

Symposium. They make us work towardsthe submission of a professional proposaland hopefully to future flights.


“It’s a little likewatching the speedof light in an eleva-tor that goes up andfalls down abruptly.”

Another team of Swedish and Greek students investigated the possibilities for prac-ticing climbing on the International Space Station. The team, called Zero-G ExtremE,aimed to find a new approach to exercise on the ISS. It combines effectiveness with fun,sport and challenge for greater physiological efficiency and greater psychological valuefor the crew while not disturbing scientific progress on the Station. “We also hope thatthe new approach can contribute to making non-scientific people on Earth morecurious about the ISS crew,"says the team. The equipment needed forthe 0-g Climbing Experimentis very simple, which is ofcourse essential for spacetravel. Before each parabola,the climber lay ready at thestart of the climbing wall.During the parabolas, he hadto climb to the top of thewall. The artificial pull on theclimber was achieved byusing a braking mechanismwith a wire or a strap, whichin turn is connected to aharness worn by the climber. The braking mechanism was designed to let out wire oncea certain tension is reached. A set of rubber bungee connected the strap and theharness to prevent the strap slacking. The traction-force was fully adjustable to differ-ent body weights. “Our first impression indicated that 0-g Climbing is both fun andchallenging,” the experimenters say. According to the team, the long interior spaces onthe ISS are ideal for climbing in zero gravity. With some extra reinforcement, climbingcan even take place directly on existing surfaces. Deployable fabric walls, nets, ropes,etc. are other alternatives that can be used in combination.

The APTOVOL experiment

Since the first edition of Physics On Stage,there has been no doubt of the success ofthis unique international project. Thisyear’s theme was “Physics and Life” tomirror the interdisciplinary aspects of allsciences and cover not only physics butalso medicine or environmental science.

More than 400 delegates from 22 coun-tries took part to the Physics on Stage fes-tival in ESA/ESTC, Noordwijk, theNetherlands, between 8 and 15 ofNovember. For the third time, Europeanteachers gathered together to find solu-tions to stop the decline of interest ofyoung people in science.

This year, the Physics on Stage 3 interna-tional teaching festival was opened by HisRoyal Highness Prince Johan Friso of theNetherlands. Minister Maria van derHoeven of the Dutch Ministry forEducation and several of the Directors

General of the EIROforum organisationsattended this ceremony and made a tourof the teaching fair.

Teachers started the festival by attendingseminars organised by the organisers andpartners of EIROforum. Throughout thefestival, the teachers met in workshops todiscuss different educational subjects, forexample how to use drama or music to

teach physics, or how to improve the linkbetween teaching and research.

At the fair, the heart of Physics on Stage,teachers demonstrated and watched moreor less complicated experiments explain-ing various physical and biological phe-nomena. Touring the fair, you could see aSpanish teacher playing with soapbubbles to study surfaces with mathemat-ical and physical models, admire magneticfields on a TV screen at the Hungarianstand or watch a “cat gymnast” – therobotic model of a cat that turns in mid-fall to land on its feet, enthusiasticallypresented by two Austrian teenagers.Another important ingredient for a suc-cessful Physics on Stage were the presen-tations of experiments and teachingmethods by the delegates and perform-ances by teachers and students to add anartistic view of physics.

As a special treat, a“chef” with a physicsdegree from Italy pre-pared a menu cookedin a scientific way –for instance, fishfried in liquid sugarinstead of oil or adelicious coffee-nitro-gen ice cream .

The active weekended with theFarewell Dinner,during which the par-ticipants with themost inspiring, inno-vative and usefulprojects were pre-sented with the

EIROforum European Science TeachingAwards.

National Events and ParticipantSelection

Physics on Stage is organised by theEIROforum (European IntergovernmentalResearch Organisations Forum) and co-funded by the European Commission as

8

To find out moreabout Physics onStage, visit the

website atwww.physicson-

stage.net


Nathalie OlivierHelen WilsonESA Education Office

Liftoff for the third edition the Physics on stage science teaching festival! His RoyalHighness Prince Johan Friso of the Netherlands launches a water rocket as theopening act.

Physics On Stage 3

9

part of the European Science andTechnology Week 2003.

The festival is only the culminating eventof a year-long programme in each of theparticipating countries. National steeringcommittees are in charge of selecting thedelegates to the festival. Each delegate –teachers, professors, artists – has beenselected for their projects, outstandingand original ideas.

Each country organised its own pro-gramme and national event, and in somecountries, the national event has becomefamous, for example Spain’s “Física enAcción”. This national competition toselect the members of the Spanish delega-tion takes place in a different museumeach year.

In the Netherlands, for example, the mainactivity of this year consisted of a confer-ence on the theme of “Medical applica-tions, from radiation to image”, visits oflaboratories, lectures, videos and discus-sions.

The involvement of the participating coun-tries becomes stronger and more impor-tant each year.

The future: Science on Stage and ESTI

In 2004, Physics on Stage will continueand expand to become "Science on Stage".National events will once again take placeacross Europe, culminating in the nextinternational festival in Grenoble, France(early 2005, date to be confirmed). Theorganisers also plan to launch ESTI, the


Spanish National Event:

When “Physics on Stage 1” startedrunning in the year 2000, the initialSpanish National Steering Committeethought about organising a nationalcompetition in order to select themembers of the Spanish delegation.“Física en Acción” was born! Since,“Física en Acción” is a real success. It’sreally well known throughout thecountry and the prestige of the project isvery high, with important media cover-age. There is always great expectation onthe part of teachers in January andFebruary, waiting for the new Fisica enAccion.This year 2003 “Física en Acción 4” wasorganised in connection with “Physics onStage 3”. The project, besides the compe-tition, involves several lectures andtraining courses for teachers. TheSpanish Royal Society of Mathematics(RSME) has been integrated in theproject and the number of prizes forteachers has been increased. Teachers ofPhysics, Mathematics, Biology,Astronomy and Technology from univer-sities, secondary and primary schoolsare included.

The new edition of “Fisica en Acción 5”isbeing planning next year 2004 in “ElParque de las Ciencias” in Granada. Forthree days the Science Museum adoptsan “open doors” policy. Lectures ongeneral scientific topics by important sci-entists are organised.There are exhibitions on written or com-puter based didactic materials andseveral round tables are organised. Butthe most important and most visitedsection activity is the Fair.

Rosa M. Ros Spain NationalRepresentative

Countries involved and national events:22 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,United Kingdom

European Science Teaching Initiative tostimulate a higher awareness of and inter-est in science and technology among thenext generation of citizens by addressingscience teaching in European schools.ESTI will provide continuous support toEuropean science teachers.

Electric atmosphere at thefair…

The most innovative and inspiring projects receivedthe “EIROforum Teaching Awards”. RudolfZiegelbecker from Austria and his two students wonthe second prize for their “cat gymnasts”.

A team from Belgium presents“Playful Physics”.


National Space EducationActivities: Norway

The Norwegian Space Centre (NSC) andthe National Centre for Space-relatedEducation (NAROM) are cooperatingclosely on educational space-related activ-ities. The web-resource SAREPTA forprimary and secondary schools is one ofthese. SAREPTA is now outsourced toNAROM. The NSC identifies, develops andfunds projects. It also grants scholarshipsto young Norwegians to take part innational and international space-relatedactivities, such as the International SpaceUniversity, the Space Camp at Andøyaand EURISY-activities. NAROM initiates,develops, and performs educational activ-ities, seminars and conferences at alllevels within subject areas related tospace, such as space technology, spacephysics, atmosphere and environment.

Examples of space-related activities atNAROM

• SAREPTA, a space resource for theclassroom, www.sarepta.org

SAREPTA, Using Space in Education, is aunique source and electronic meetingplace for students and teachers at upperprimary and secondary school level for usein geography and science lessons. SAREP-TA combines teaching and learning mate-rial, new satellite images with backgroundinformation and exercises.

• EUROPEAN SPACE CAMP

Arranged by NAROM and the NorwegianAssociation of Young Scientists (FUF), thissummer 22 young students from all over

the world had the opportunity to spendone week at the European Space Camp atAndøya Rocket Range (ARR). The RocketRange is located in the North of Norway,with unique facilities and laboratories tomake the students experience a scientificatmosphere. The main co-operators areESA, ARR and the NSC. For more infor-mation concerning the Space Camp, visithttp://www.spacecamp.no

• NCUBE-1, THE FIRST NORWEGIANCUBESAT STUDENT SATELLITE

www.rocketrange.no/ncube/The NCUBE-1 is a satellite built by stu-dents from four Norwegian universities.ARR in co-operation with NSC andNAROM initiated the project in 2001 witha payload feasibility study involving 60students. The main mission of the satelliteis to demonstrate ship traffic surveillancefrom a LEO satellite using the maritimeAutomatic Identification System (AIS). Thesatellite will be placed in a low-earth cir-cular sun-synchronous orbit with aperigee of approximately 700km. The incli-nation will be close to 98 degrees. Thelaunch is scheduled to April 2004 fromDNEPR, Ukraine.

• STUDENT ROCKET PROJECT

A hands-on activity during courses, semi-nars and camps organised by NAROM atAndøya Rocket Range. The rocket masswith payload is 3.2 kg, the rocket is 1.30meters long and reaches an approximatealtitude of 1000 meters with a flight timeof 30 seconds.

EDUnews is read in many different European countries. From time to time we willpresent general and space-related activities in ESA Member States to provide an in-depth view of “space in your backyard” and points of contact. If you’d like to write aboutwhat’s going o in your country, please send an email to [email protected]

Birgit Stromshølm,NAROM

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‘Teaching Space’ in primary school

Children have anatural interest inspace. Relating activ-ities to space canhelp them developskills such as creativ-ity, curiosity, enthu-siasm, flexibility andthe ability to workwith others.To develop new mate-rials and projects forschools, ESA organ-ises workshops, e.g.‘Teach Space’, whereteachers from all overEurope discuss theirneeds and ideas fornew teaching mate-rial to introduce thetopic space in theclassroom.The ‘Habla ISS’

lessons have been developed followingteachers’ recommendations, e.g.:• It is important that children participate

actively in the activities. In so doing,they have control over the learningprocess and acquire knowledge moreeasily.

• It is important to introduce variety intothe activities organised. Children do notdifferentiate between subjects. Space isan ideal topic for developing activities,which combine the various disciplinestaught at school, such as maths, lan-guage, biology, art, sports, and so on.

• It is important to have a goal. In this par-ticular case, the goal is taking part inthe contest and having the chance tospeak to Spanish ESA astronaut PedroDuque while he is in space. ThroughPedro, space becomes part of theirworld.

For more informa-tion, visit the project

website at:www.esa.int/hablaiss

or contact us [email protected] [email protected]


Thanks to ARISS (Amateur Radio on theISS), there has been live radio-contactbetween Pedro Duqueduring his“Cervantes” missionon the ISS andprimary school chil-dren here on Earth.An educational pro-gramme called ‘HablaISS’ has been devel-oped based on thisopportunity.Ten complete lessonsincluding activities forthe classroom havebeen posted on thewebsite. On 15 April,a letter from PedroDuque was sent to all14 000 primaryschools in Spain,inviting the childrento play with thesepedagogical materialsavailable online and to learn about ‘Beingan astronaut’, ‘Weightlessness’ and the‘International Space Station’.The schools also had the opportunity totake part in a national contest, whichinvolved sending drawings and stories onthe theme “An astronaut and the ISS” tothe ESA Education Office. The winnershad the chance to talk to Pedro during hisstay on the ISS in October. Portugueseprimary schools were also invited to jointhe programme.Many children in Spain and Portugal haveused these activities in their classroom,and more than 5000 applied to thecontest. On 14 August, 6 classes wereselected. The 110 lucky winners wereinvited for one day of activities in the‘Verbum’ museum in Vigo on 26 October.ESA astronaut Umberto Guidoni joinedthem on this very special day.

‘Habla ISS’: The Project

Caroline Pujol,

ESA Education Office

The lesson: ‘Travelling into space’

From the beginning of time, people have dreamt of visiting other planets, of journeying intospace. Astronauts travel into space with rockets to help make that dream come true.

To go to the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts can use the Russian Soyuz rocket orthe American Space Shuttle.

But how do rockets work? The fuel burns in the rocket engine and produces gases. These canonly escape through the nozzle at the bottom of the rocket. They push the rocket upwards.

It’s like a balloon full of air; when air is let out, it pushes the balloon in the opposite direction.Ready for countdown? 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... 0... lift-off!

Activity in Arts for 6- to 9-year-oldsYou will need: crayons, a sheet of white paper

With the help of the photo of the Russian Soyuz rocket above, draw the rocket in which Pedro Duque will betravelling in October. Use lots of different colours... to dazzle the stars!

Science work for 9- to 12-year-olds

You will need: a balloon (a long one would be better than a round one), a paper clip, a straw, thread (9 metresof sewing or nylon thread), sticky-tape, scissors.First step: Read the instructions for the second step and imagine what will happen. Describe the experimentbefore carrying it out.Second step:1. Blow up the balloon and seal it with the paper clip so air can’t escape.2. Cut the straw in two and tape each half onto the balloon.

The two pieces of the straw should be at opposite ends of the balloon and lined up with each other.3. Insert the thread through the two halves of the straw. Two people should hold the thread taut, one at each

end.4. Slide the paper-clipped end of the balloon towards the end of the thread and release the air.5. Observe how the balloon moves towards the other end of the thread.Third step:Explain and analyse what happened:• Compare what you expected to happen with what actually happened.• What made the balloon move?• How did the balloon stop?• How could the balloon be made to cover a greater distance?• What did the balloon’s movement remind you of?

History and English work for 6- to 12-year-olds

First of all, read about the history of the conquest of space:1957: The Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik-1. This event prompted theUSA, for strategic and military reasons, to speed up its technological research pro-gramme.1960: The USA launched its first communication satellite Echo-1; competition with theSoviet Union drove up the number of launches.12 April 1961: The Soviet Union placed the first ever human being, Yuri Gagarin, an air-force officer, into Earthorbit in the Vostok-1 capsule.5 May 1961: The USA launched an astronaut, Alan Shepard, for the first time for a brief flight onboard theMercury capsule. He was the second man in space.

“I saw the Moon landing...on that daPedro Duque, European

6 August 1961: In a new Soviet record, the Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov manning the Vostok-2 capsule,managed to stay in orbit for one day.21 July 1969: The American Neil Armstrong, as commander of the Apollo-11 lunar mission, was the first personto step onto the Moon.1971: The Soviet Union launched the first space station, Salyut-1.28 January 1986: In the USA, in Florida, the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded a few seconds after lift-offkilling the seven crew.

20 February 1986: The Soviet Union launched the first part of its space station Mir.1 November 1993: NASA and the Russian Space Agency signed an agreement in Moscow tocarry out a joint space station project. With at least 45 launches between 1998 and 2006, theUnited States and Russia, together with Europe, Japan, Canada and Brazil, would build themost complex space laboratory ever, the International Space Station (ISS).

• for 6- to 9-year-olds, define the terms “history”, “space”, “competition”, “number”, “astronaut”, “record”,“tragedy”, “rocket” and “agreement” and then write sentences containing each of these terms.• for 9- 12-year-olds, define the terms “satellite”, “strategic”, “research”, “orbit”, “manned by”, “commander”,“lunar mission”, “crew”, “space station” and “laboratory” and then write sentences containing each of theseterms.

Multiple-choice questions for 6- to 9-year-olds

Question 1: What nationality was Yuri Gagarin, the first man to journey into space?(a) Chinese(b) American(c) Russian

Question 2: The European space rocket is called Ariane, but what is the name of the Russian one?(a) Shuttle(b) Soyuz(c) Space Transporter

Question 3: Ready for launch? 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0…(a) So long!(b) Lift-off!(c) Away we go!

Multiple-choice questions for 11- to 14-year-olds

Question 4: Who was the first man to walk on the Moon?(a) Neil Armstrong(b) René Descartes(c) Pedro Duque

Question 5: Which of the following statements are true?(a) Rockets are used to send astronauts to the ISS(b) Rockets are used to place satellites in orbit around the Earth(c) Rockets are used to study the properties of fuel

Question 6: In a book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the main character is a boy who comes from a small planet and travels around visiting planets in space before arriving on Earth. What is the title ofthis book?(a) “The vulcanologist”(b) “Zorro’s friend”(c) “The little prince”

ay, we all wanted to be astronauts!”Space Agency astronaut

And the winners are...

Illustrated poem by children

from Ganzo, Cantabria (11 years)

Story by children from Vigo,

Pontevedra (10 years)Rocket model in papier

maché by children from

Cartag Murcia (7 years)

Story by children from Sintra, Lisbon (8 years)

Drawing by children from El Puerto de Santa

Maria, Cadiz (8 years)

Drawing by children from Sinarcas, Valencia (6 years)

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“Space is about discovery,it’s about exploration, it’salso about science”

What inspired you first to become an astro-naut?

When I was young I always wanted tobecome a pilot, to fly with airplanes. It’salso what I did in my initial career when I

started to study. Then, when the firstspaceship Columbia was launched (inApril 1981) I watched it flying to space andcoming back and landing and I thought:“This is something that one day I want todo in my career as well.” So I started to bereally interested in space and I alreadywrote letters to NASA at that time to knowhow to become an astronaut. Finally, inthe early 90s, ESA made a Europeanastronaut selection and I joined them.

What is the best memory you have aboutthe Odissea Mission?

The best memory of course is the flightitself, but also the all training around theyear and a half that I spent in Russia andthe fact that I met so many new peopleand I had the opportunity to get to know anew culture – and especially the fact thatI have so many new friends.

How was you experience with studentsduring the Odissea Mission?

Very nice of course, it’s always very nice totalk with students. After the mission Igave a lot of lectures and got a lot of con-

tacts with students because they havevery refreshing ideas sometimes. They askvery interesting questions that we some-times would not think about. It’s reallygreat to work with them because, ofcourse, they are our future. It is also greatto hear from them when you are up there.

Can you remember any particular specialor difficult questions that young childrenasked you?

Not while I was on the space station, butfrom other times I can remember somestrange question like “Did you meet extra-terrestrials when you were up there?” ,“How is the weather up there in space?”,“How does it come that the Earth turnsaround, is there a motor inside?”– it’sreally amazing sometimes what they comeup with!

Frank de Winne, 42, from Ghent in Belgium, is an astronautin ESA’s European Astronaut Corps. From 30 October to 10November 2002 De Winne participated in the “Odissea”mission, a support flight to the International Space Station.

A prime task of the 11-day mission was the replacement of theSoyuz vehicle attached to the Space Station by the new TMA-1 spacecraft, in order to deliver a fresh “lifeboat” for the resi-dent crew to be used in case of an emergency.

During his nine days on board the Space Station, De Winne,whose flight was sponsored by the Belgian Federal Office for Scientific, Technical andCultural Affairs, carried out a programme of 23 experiments in the fields of life andphysical sciences and education, including experiments in an important new researchfacility designed and developed in Europe, the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG).


European astronaut Frank De Winne about being an astronaut, dreams and education

What is in your opinion the educationalvalue of the ISS?

The educational value of the ISS of courseis that it can be inspiring for the youth.They see it could go to full operations withmore European flying to the ISS . The ISSis great for people from all countries – we

have heard a lot from Spain about PedroDuque’s mission this year, for example –because with more flights of Europeanastronauts the European citizens feelmore attached to this incredible project.Spaceflight and especially human space-flight still inspires lots of young people,not only to do scientific careers, which isof course important for Europe, but itinspires them in general to be able to

pursue their dreams. If they have a dreamthey want to pursue and they want to gofor it maybe someday they can realise it. Ithink this is a very important message togive to our children.

Can we say its educational value is con-nected to International Cooperation too?

Well, this is a part of it of course. The ISSis an example of peaceful internationalcooperation, but this aspect is moreappealing to the general public at large, Ithink, rather than to children at that age.For them is more the dream that you canpursue, and it is very important thatsociety also needs to be able to dream andto pursue their dreams. If you do not do itthen society is in decline.

What are, in your opinion, the reasons forthe current lack of interest in scientific andtechnical subjects?

I don’t know much about it besides thefact that it is a difficult choice because thestudies are not always easy, you need tolearn very hard and it is difficult to seewhat job you can have after your study.Everything is so much concentrated in thecommercial area that doing commercialstudies maybe can get you more directbenefits. But I think pursuing scientific studies anddoing scientific research in the area of dis-covery is what we need to inspire youngpeople. This is why space is so important.Because space is about discovery, it’sabout exploration, it’s also about science.But you need to have visible elements toshow this to young people again to makethem dream about it and this is whathuman spaceflight can do.

Do you think that interest in space isdeclining?

I don’t think so. I think that what thegeneral public is missing again is inspira-tion. The general public was interested forexample by my flight. It’s something new,and it’s doing something exciting, like inmy case I was the first one to fly with theRussian and sit on the top of the RussianSoyuz. In the 60s we were doing all kindsof new things, we were going to space forthe first time, we were flying to the Moon.There was the aspect of the race betweenthe Russians and the Americans whichnow has changed more into InternationalCooperation. We don’t explore anymoreright now, we turn circles around our



Earth. Which is of course very importantat this point of time for future exploration,but I think we will see very quickly thatthere would be a lot of interest again fromthe general public if we were to come up

with a vision for Human Spaceflightcentred around exploring our SolarSystem and travelling further than wehave done before.

If you would like to receive the latest education news via email (conferences, workshops, launch of a new project,contests, etc), don’t forget to subscribe to ESA education!

It’s 11 a.m., and a crowd of almost 1000students have gathered in their schoolyard outside the town of Kuruman, SouthAfrica. At the centre of their attention is aNamibian medical student, sent byCosmos Education’s Under

African Skies expedition, about todemonstrate a powerful chemical reactionthat will launch a potato more than 50metres into the air. After an explanation ofthe scientific process, the countdownstarts: “3, 2, 1, Liftoff!” – a boom sends thepotato rocketing into the air among cheersand whoops from the students.

Whether it be a school of 1000 students oran orphanage of 20 children, CosmosEducation, an international non-profitorganisation, seeks the same goal witheach visit: to inspire and empower youngpeople in developing countries to becomefuture leaders in their communities. The

members of Cosmos have been active forthe past four years in various countries ofsub-Saharan Africa, using topics ofscience, health and technology to inspireAfrican kids.

Central to achieving Cosmos’ mission andgoals is the “Under African Skies” expedi-tion, which runs at least once a year. Thisyear’s expedition lasted eight weeks, start-ing in Cape Town, South Africa, in thebeginning of July, and ending in Arusha,Tanzania. Team members gathered fromaround the globe to visit 85 schools,orphanages, and youth centres in SouthAfrica, Swaziland, Botswana, Zambia, andTanzania.

“Education is the single most importantkey to sustainable development. Childrenare the future and we hope to empowerthem to drive development from within,”said Kevin Hand, who founded the organ-isation in 2000 and is currently a gradu-ate student in geology at Stanford

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Under African Skies Cosmos 2003 Education Expedition

Alex Tung, CosmosEducation USA

Vivian Nchogu,Cosmos EducationKenya


Science demonstration and

discussion session with a group of young Zambians.

19

University in California, USA. “We hopethat the youth of Africa will drive develop-ment in a way that is compatible with theincredibly rich cultural and biologicaldiversity of this continent.”

Members of the organisation come frommany countries, including the US, UK,Canada, Croatia, Kenya, Tanzania, SouthAfrica, Zambia, and Swaziland. This diver-sity is vital both for understanding localcustoms and traditions and also forinspiring the students with role models.

Typically presentations start with ageneral introduction of the team, empha-sising the diversity of the group and focus-ing on planet Earth as our collectivehome. The students are then split up inmodules for fun, interactive presentationson a variety of topics, including HIV/AIDS,physics and astronomy, chemistry, waterquality and filtration, the greenhouseeffect, waves and communications, visionand flight.

Because membersvisit schools andvenues with stu-dents and chil-dren of varyinglevels of educa-tion, the pro-gramme is flexi-ble and adapt-able to the abili-ties of the stu-dents. TheCosmos teammembers usethe students’existing knowl-edge, apply it


inspires young students in Africa

For more information, and to learn howto get involved, visit

www.cosmoseducation.orgor send an email to

[email protected].

to a widespread and unsolved problem intheir own countries, and challenge thestudents to think of ways to solve thatproblem. Applying students’ existingknowledge to problems they see in theworld around them is one way of helpingto empower young minds.

Cosmos Education is a small but rapidlygrowing organisation that hopes to set upa presence in developing countriesthroughout the world. The success of theorganisation is highly dependent onskilled and dedicated volunteers.

Cosmos Education expedition team in their overland truck,journeying to visit young people in Eastern and Southern Africa.


Nuna-II, alias "the flying dutchman", won the 7thWorld Solar Challenge 2003 in a new record of 30 h54 min (avg speed 97.02 km/h). The number 2,Aurora (AUS) followed at 1 hour 43 min while theUS-team from MIT came in 1 hr 58 min later. TheNuna-II car was made by 12 students from the uni-versity of Delft with the latest space technology likestate-of-the-art batteries, solar cells, power trackers,strategy software, composites materials etc.Currently a proposal is made for a tour of the cararound European schools.

PFC projection in Athens, Greece

The Space Game at Le Bourget 2003

Photo Gallery


His Royal Highness Prince Johan Friso of theNetherlands and Mrs van der Hoeven, Dutch minister ofEducation, Culture and Science, guided here by WubboOckels, chairman of Physics on Stage 3, attended theOpening Ceremony.

Participants met in workshops on different topics, allwith aim to overcome the current crisis in physicsteaching.

Adolf Cortel from Spain showssimple but effective experimentson the physics of vision.

As a special treat, an Italian chefprepared a meal “cooked withphysics” – ice-cream made withliquid nitrogen, for example.

Two participants from Poland and Belgium exchangeteaching ideas at the fair.

The Austrian performance “Eye LikePhysics”.

22EDUnews No 4 March 2003

The ESA Space ExplorationProgramme Aurora and theStudent Design Contest

Aurora is the name of ESA’s initiative forrobotic and human exploration of theSolar System and notably of Mars and theMoon. The Programme – currently in itspreparatory phase – will define and imple-ment a long-term exploration strategywith the final goal of landing a human onMars by 2030. The road map that is beingworked out includes a number of technol-ogy developments, robotic missions toMars and manned and unmanned missionto the Moon in preparation of a humanmission to Mars. A programme with suchan ambitious goal and spanning over sucha long period of time needs to ensure thatthere will be a constant in-flow of newideas and concepts as well as of newskilled and motivated workforce. This is

the reason why Aurora has an explicitprovision for co-operation with EuropeanTechnical Universities.

Aurora already has close relations withEuropean University networks and theFuture Space Exploration (FUSE) networkthat brings together top European univer-sities with interest and expertise in spaceexploration. At the first Aurora /Academia workshop, held in September2002, the idea of a Student DesignContest was launched.

The contest wants to:

1) raise awareness and motivate studentsand young researchers on the issues ofspace exploration and the challengesthat go with it while offering an oppor-tunity to tackle a design project withgiven requirements and in a givenframework;

2) stimulate new ideas, innovative con-cepts and unexplored approaches thatcan spring from the academic environ-ment and that could later be applied tothe missions or facilitate the solution ofrelated technical problems.

The above goals match the mandate andobjectives of the ESA Corporate EducationOffice. The contest was launched and con-ducted in cooperation with it.

After the announcement in January 2003the first deadline was in the beginning ofMarch for team registration and submis-sion of a project outline. Teams could becomposed of a maximum of six studentsincluding one PhD candidate. The projectoutline was meant to make sure studentshad understood the scope of the contestand the Aurora Programme as well as thefive categories in which projects could besubmitted. These were “Flagship andArrow class missions” (major missionswith a scientific interest on their own theformer; smaller, cost-capped, mainly tech-nology demonstrator missions the latter);“Human Missions”; “New EnablingTechnologies” and “Surface Robotics”.

By the first deadline, 53 projects werereceived from all over Europe and Canadaand from two international educationinstitutions supported by ESA, namely theInternational Space University (ISU) andthe Alpbach Summer School.

Once the teams had been notified thattheir project was eligible for the contest,they had five months to work on it andcome up with a 20-page report and an

Piero Messina

ESA Headquarters,Paris

23EDUnews No 4 March 2003

executive summary to be submitted nolater than end of July 2003.

In the end, we received 36 projects, whichtriggered a very intense week of reading,evaluation, discussion and selection thatoccupied more than ten people from theAurora Programme and ESA’s AdvancedConcept Team for one week. The quality ofthe work produced by the students wasdeemed to be so good that, in addition tothe top three projects for each category,two additional projects were shortlisted inthe “Human Missions” category. Finally,17 teams were selected to go to Barcelonaand present their projects to ESA expertsand members of the ExplorationProgramme Advisory Committee (EPAC)with representatives from industry andacademia.

The event was a great success, alsothanks to the flawless organisation of theUniversitat Politecnica de Catalunya.The jury’s task to identify the winners inthe five categories special prizes was notan easy one. Chaired by the EPAC

Chairman, Prof. J.P. Swings, the juryfinally awarded 11 prizes in total – twomore than planned – and congratulated allstudents for their excellent work.

While students are resting from the effortand looking forward to enjoing theirprizes, the Aurora Student Design Contestteam is back at work to publish the pro-ceedings, collect the suggestions and havethem integrated in the guidelines for thenext Student Contest.

The extremely positive experience andresponse from students, professors andprofessionals alike provided the thrust tostart organising a second Aurora StudentContest. While the structure of the contestis unlikely to be modified significantly weare trying to announce the contest muchearlier than last year so that Universityprofessors have more time to plan such anactivity.

Further informa-tion can be

obtained frompiero.messina@esa.

int [email protected] and on theAurora web site(www.esa.int/

aurora).

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 that future proj-ects are decided upon. However, ESA also has centres through-out 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’sinformation 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 contributionfrom all the Agency’s Member States, calculated in accor-dance with each country’s gross national product. Inaddition, ESA conducts a number of optional pro-grammes. Each country decides in which optional pro-gramme it wishes to participate and the amount of itscontribution.

What is ESA?

EDUnews

Coordinator: Micaela BracciaferriContact: [email protected]: Barbara WarmbeinDesign & Layout: Jules Perel

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

© 2003 European Space AgencyPrinted in The Netherlands

ISSN 1682-8941

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7th Student Parabolic Flight Campaign: This year the campaign might take place assoon as Easter 2004, so the application deadline for the experiments is Monday 12January 2004. Visit www.esa.int/education/parabolic for updates!

‘Zeg het ISS’ project: developed by ESA Education Office in collaboration with the ARISSassociation (Amateur Radio on ISS). Dutch and Flemish primary schools are invited toparticipate in the contest. The winning classes have the opportunity to have radiocontact with André Kuipers during the Dutch Soyuz Mission mid April 2004. The dead-line of application is 15 February 2004. More information at www.esa.int/zeghetiss

6th Student Participation Programme 2004: The next IAF Congress will take placefrom 4 to 8 October 2004 in Vancouver, Canada. The application deadline is 20February 2004. Visit the programme website at www.esa.int/education/iaf.

The Ariadna project call for proposals can be found at:www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/ariadna.html. Visit the site for updates as research opportuni-ties will be announced periodically!

Calling all medical students or residents for the EURISY Spring School in Rabat,Morocco on the theme of Telemedicine – Public Health and Remote Sensing, co-spon-sored by CRTS (Royal Centre for Remote Sensing, Morocco). Call for candidates onwww.eurisy.asso.fr

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