Last October, an amazing parade took place in Enayetpur, some 80-odd miles northwest of Dhaka, Bangladesh. “The kids were carrying model rockets and fantastic colourful Space Week banners,” remembers Robert Hill, Director of the Northern Ireland Space Office, who was among the massive crowd. “There were more than a thousand people walking through the streets — to celebrate World Space Week.”
Instigated in 1999 by the United Nations General Assembly, World Space Week is all about increasing awareness of the ways space-inspired science and technologies genuinely benefit people’s everyday lives. Coordinated by the UN, the World Space Week Association and their team of National Coordinators, the results are a wide range of events taking place around the world under the World Space Week banner.
Each year, World Space Week has a specific theme, which organisers are invited to incorporate into their own events. In 2012, the official focus is ‘Space for Human Safety and Security’, celebrating the many ways Earth observation, navigation and telecommunication satellites contribute to human safety — from aiding in search and rescue operations to measuring air pollution and monitoring the scale of urban sprawl, deforestation and desertification.
SOME OF THOSE EYES IN THE SKY
Landsat 7 is the latest player in a 40-year joint NASA/US Geological Survey project. Currently in a polar, sun-synchonrous orbit, the satellite provides highly accurate data about natural and human-inspired changes to the world’s landmasses.
From its geostationary orbit at 0° longitude over the Gulf of Guinea, the European Space Agency’s Meteosat-10 contributes to highly-detailed imagery of Europe, the North Atlantic and Africa aiding meterologists and national weather forecasters.
LEOSAR is one of a pair of satellites in the SARSAT (Search And Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking) system which, since 1982, has been credited with supporting more than 30,000 rescues worldwide, including more than 6,700 in the US and its surrounding waters.
WORLD SPACE WEEK 2012 EVENTS
- Brazil (São Jose do Hortencio): Lectures, exhibitions and rocket launch for local students.
- Burundi (Bujumbura): Conference on “Space and Human Security’, public observations and exhibition.
- Ethiopia (Addis Ababa): Capacity-building workshop in astronomy and space science in Ethiopia.
- Greece (Serres): Educational events for students (5-18), observational events for astronomers.
- Netherlands (Noordwijk): Open Day at the European Space Research and Technology Centre.
- Tanzania (Zanzibar town): Participatory events for school children on rocketry and astronomy.
- UK (London): Lecture on the past and future of exploring the universe.
- US/Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh): Mingo Public Star Party, including telescopes, planetarium show and presentations.
FROM BANGLADESH TO ETHIOPIA
Robert Hill saw more than just a large ‘space’ parade while in Bangladesh for World Space Week. Along with his colleague Dr Sarah Roberts (Director of Education at the Faulkes Telescope Project), he spoke to thousands during three days of events and workshops promoting the incorporation of astronomy into Bangladesh’s secondary school curriculum.
“I had very strict objectives in mind,” Robert insists. “Primarily, to set up a network of teachers who could use astronomy resources from around Bangladesh, and who could then share their knowledge with other teachers. If you don’t leave people on the ground with resources, it just fizzles out, so it was really important that we got the teachers involved.”
Suggesting changes to the curriculum was a real challenge. “I was going for a more holistic approach,” he says, “seeing what already exists in their curriculum, and how they can use astronomy to bolster it. You can find generic threads in any curriculum, in science and maths, and use astronomy as the context to inspire young people.”
Viewed as a great success, the Bangladesh event has become the essential blue-print for a similar World Space Week event this year in Ethiopia. “It’s about empowering teachers and young people; that’s what this project is really about,” Robert insists. “It’s offering real science with real scientists on real projects; it’s about engaging with young people and, more importantly, how they can engage with science — so they don’t see it as a book or abstract lesson, but as a real, breathing subject.”
First published by BBC Sky at Night magazine, October 2012.
