Highlights from the Ecsite Space Group Annual meeting 2017
On 27–28 November 2017, the Ecsite Space Group held their Annual Meeting at the ESA European Astronomy Centre, ESAC, Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain. It was attended by representatives of museums, science centres, Ecsite members and ESA.
Activities on the first day of the workshop included a visit to the Planetarium of Madrid and the permanent exhibition on ESA achievements, and an introduction to the ‘Alive’ game, developed under the topic ‘Is there life out there ?’ by City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, Spain, ready for dissemination by Ecsite mid 2018.
During the second day, the ESA Communication Strategy 2018-2020 was described by Philippe Willekens, Head of ESA Communication Department along with ESA achievements and planetary science missions presented by Martin Kessler, Head of ESA Science Operation Department.
A visit to ESAC provided information on ESA’s space-telescopes and planetary missions, science operations, and ESAC’s scientific data store. The tour included a presentation of the ESA educational initiative ‘CESAR - Cooperation through Education in Science and Astronomy Research.’
A dedicated session ‘Space for Society: Cooperating with museums to engage the public on future European space programmes’ allowed participants to exchange ideas with ESA representatives and ESA astronaut Pedro Duque on how museums and science centres increase knowledge on European space activities.
Next year’s the space group will meet in Geneva, Switzerland, during the Ecsite annual conference 2018, with a two-day workshop ‘Space for Life’ on 5–6 June followed by a dedicated space session on 7 June.
In addition, the ESA/Ecsite Space Group stand at the traditional Business Bistro will provide the ideal platform to present the Group projects and share communication tools to promote European space activities.
About the Space Group
The Space Group with members from more than 100 institutions, aims to facilitate, with the support of ESA, cooperation and exchange among science centres, museums, research institutions, universities, national space agencies and industries from all over Europe, to better share European achievements in space.
The group is led by Marc Moutin, Director of Exhibitions at Cité de l’Espace, Toulouse, France; Ana Noronha, Executive Director at Ciência Viva, Lisbon, Portugal; and Maria Menendez, ESA’s Head of Corporate Exhibitions and Events.
For more information on the Ecsite Space Group, please click here.
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