Celebrating the arrival of Space for our Planet in New York
On 26 and 27 October, the UN Visitors Centre opened its doors for two days of inaugural events to mark the arrival of the ‘Space for our Planet’ travelling exhibition. With the aim of showcasing how space technology and its applications benefit life on Earth and all humankind, over the past year the display has been travelling around the world. It recently landed at the UN Visitors Centre in New York. To celebrate the arrival of the 35 portraits of testimonial that make up the exhibition, last week the UN Visitor Centre hosted two noteworthy celebrations.
On 26 October, a first event was dedicated to all partners of ‘Space for our Planet’ who have supported the exhibitions. The ceremony shone a spotlight on the importance of space technologies to achieve the objectives and targets enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Introduced by the curators Fiorella Coliolo and Benoit Delplanque, the event saw the participation of: Niklas Hedman, Acting Director, UNOOSA; Eduardo Ramos, Chargé D’Affaires a.i. Deputy Permanent Representative of Portugal to UN; Heriberto Saldivar, Head of Foresight, Strategy and Coordination Deartment, ESA; Sveva Iacovoni, President Spokesperson, ASI; Maria Rosaria D’Antonio, Head of Administration, IAU; Zainab Azim, GIVE Founder and Virgin Galactic Future Astronaut.
On the second day, 27 October, all the founding partners of the display had the chance to meet for a day of lively interactions and exchange of ideas. In the run-up to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Summit in September 2023, during the panel discussion ‘Space for sustainable development on Earth’, participants had the opportunity to focus on the benefits of space technologies in the Summit proceedings and the crucial importance of international cooperation in outer space for the benefit of all.
ESA is a founding partner and has contributed to ‘Space for our Planet’ with concrete examples of how data from Earth observation, telecommunications and navigation satellites and integrated applications – as well as knowledge gained through International Space Station research – support the UN’s sustainable development goals: eradicating poverty, improving human health, contributing to industry and innovation, promoting responsible consumption and fostering world peace.
So far, the exhibit has been displayed in Paris, Brussels, Dubai, Toulouse, Bonn, Berlin, Trento and Rome. Next stops will be Barcelona in November 2022 and Lisbon in 2023.
