European Youth Event 2018
The European Youth Event (EYE) will take place at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on 1 and 2 June 2018. It is a unique opportunity for young Europeans to make their voices heard.
During the event, young people will exchange ideas and perspectives on youth-related issues, develop innovative solutions to crucial questions for the future, and meet with European decision-makers and speakers with a wide range of professional experience.
The EYE 2018 will include a large variety of activities run under the slogan “The plan is to fan this spark into a flame.” (Hamilton, My Shot) . Coordinated through ESA’s Education Office, the EYE event will feature exciting talks from ESA speakers, including astronaut Paolo Nespoli, who will address how space is generating innovation and new opportunities for society.
This year’s five main themes are:
- Young and old: Keeping up with the digital revolution
- Rich and poor: Calling for a fair share
- Apart and together: Working out for a stronger Europe
- Safe and dangerous: Staying alive in turbulent times
- Local and global: Protecting our planet
How can you take part online?
For those of you who will not be able to attend the event, you can still take part online. You can follow and participate directly in the discussions and debates taking place in workshops, panel discussions, and performances through an online dashboard offering live web streaming and social media feeds.
Follow the #EYE2018 hashtag and the event’s Facebook page to participate in the event online.
ESA’s participation in EYE 2018
The pioneering nature of space, which feeds our ambition to discover and understand the Universe around us and humankind’s place in it, is a powerful source of inspiration for all, especially young people.
In particular, today’s Europe recognises the pivotal role of space in providing the knowledge base and the services required for smart and sustainable growth. Today’s use of space technology for navigation, security, and environmental monitoring binds us more than ever to space.
Several ESA speakers will attend the event and share their ideas, knowledge and experience.
Friday 1 June 2018
Title of the session: ‘Race to planet Mars: A place to see before you die?’
Time: 14:00 – 15:30
Europe 2020: Time for a new mission to Mars, our nearest planetary neighbour. The ExoMars rover – Europe’s famous next-generation space robot – will travel across the surface of the Red Planet to search for signs of life. Two ESA representatives – Elliot Sefton Nash, ESA’s Planetary scientist, and Martin Zwick, an Engineer working in ESA’s Automation and Robotics section – will attend this session, where there will be presentations followed by discussion. Some of the questions will be: What could the rover find and bring home to Earth? And is there new evidence of life in the universe or even habitable stars?
Saturday 2 June 2018
Title of the session: ‘A spacewalker’s life: Zero gravity and a hundred new horizons’
Time: 14:30 – 16:00
In this talk, ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli will share his own experiences in humanity’s greatest exploration adventures during his Vita mission onboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Paolo was launched for his third mission on 28 July 2017 aboard Soyuz MS-05, under a barter agreement between NASA and Italy’s ASI space agency involving ESA astronauts. Paolo completed more than 60 experiments during his Vita mission, which stands for Vitality, Innovation, Technology and Ability. He returned on 14 December 2017 after 139 days in space, making him the second-most experienced ESA astronaut, with 313 total days in space across three flights.
