In-Flight Call to the International Space Station!

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(Linz / Salzburg 27.5.2021) It races around our planet at 28,000 kilometres per hour and at an altitude of 400 kilometres, it is as long and wide as a football field and thus the largest object ever built by humans in space. We are talking about the International Space Station ISS. On Tuesday, 1 June 2021, at 2 p.m. sharp, ESERO Austria and the VEGA Observatory Haus der Natur in Salzburg invite you to an extraordinary encounter: as part of a so-called in-flight call, two teachers from the HTL Wels and the BORG Straßwalchen will be connected live to the International Space Station ISS and chat with the astronaut Thomas Pesquet (FR), who is currently on duty there. The topic of their conversation is sustainability in space travel, and the questions for the astronaut were prepared by pupils and teachers from all over Austria. Prior to the video call, a number of exciting lectures on space travel and outer space are scheduled for this day, all of which can be streamed on YouTube and followed free of charge as part of Ars Electronica Home Delivery. All the details can be found at https://ars.electronica.art/esero/de/videoanruf-zur-internationalen-raumstation/.

TUE, 1.6.2021 / In-Flight Call & streaming festivals on the theme of space

Until 10 May 2021, teachers and students from all over Austria had the opportunity to submit their questions to Thomas Pesquet – the most exciting of which were then selected by ESA and will be put to the French astronaut live by two teachers. In addition to the in-flight call, spectators can expect a series of informative lectures on space and sustainability in space travel. Questions can be put to the speakers on 1 June via the Mentimeter programme. A link to this will be available at the respective live stream on Youtube. Here is an overview of the programme:

09:00-09:25 Meteorites – When stones fall from the sky (Erich Meyer, Kepler Observatory Linz)

10:30-10:55 CanSat and CADSat – Projects for pupils (Bettina Anderl, ESERO Austria)

11:00-11:25 A sustainable future for mankind in space (Dr. Florian Freistetter, astronomer, blogger and science buster)

11:30-11:55 Austria in Space / Discovering Talent and Promoting Young Researchers (Michaela Gitsch, Austrian Research Promotion Agency [FFG] Aerospace Agency)

12:30-12:55 The International Space Station (ISS) (Dr. Peter Habison, Astronomer)

13:00-13:25 Building in Space (Dr. Barbara Imhof / Dr. René Waclavicek, Liquifer)

14:00-15:15 In-Flight Call with Thomas Pesquet on board the International Space Station (ESERO Austria, ESERO France, ESERO Estonia, ESA, ISS).

The ISS – High-tech laboratory in space
The International Space Station is made up of various modules and assemblies that were brought into orbit by carrier rockets and space shuttles and assembled there. A total of around 40 assembly flights have been necessary since 1998. The entire station has been in routine operation since the 2000s, but extensions are planned until the mid-2020s. Since 2000, the ISS has been permanently manned, initially with three, now with up to six space travellers. Since its beginnings in 1998, far more than 200 field missions and over 3,000 experiments have been carried out on the station. These range from materials research to biotechnology, human medicine and behavioural research.

ESERO Austria
ESERO stands for “European Space Education Resource Office” and is run in cooperation between the European Space Agency (ESA) and national partners in the individual ESA member states. In Austria, the tenth ESERO in Europe began operations at the Ars Electronica Center in June 2016. The project is funded by ESA and BMK/FFG. The goal of ESERO is to use the fascination of the topic of space to introduce young people to scientific and technical topics. The main target group is teachers at primary and secondary level. In the long term, the project aims to increase the number of children and young people who decide to pursue a technical and scientific career. To achieve this goal, ESERO offers teachers a wide range of teaching materials and training programmes.

VEGA Observatory Haus der Natur
Haus der Natur operates one of the most powerful public observatories in Europe on the Haunsberg, just outside the city of Salzburg. The VEGA Haus der Natur observatory is a platform for science, education, culture and society. In contrast to pure research observatories, the focus is not only on scientific standards, but also on education and the social mission. With this objective, the Haus der Natur wants to inspire as many people as possible for astronomy and space research and promote the discussion of these topics in society.

Photo:
Astonomie im Deep Space 8K / Fotocredit: Ars Electronica – Robert Bauernhansl / Printversion

Photo:
Astonomie im Deep Space 8K / Fotocredit: Ars Electronica – Robert Bauernhansl / Printversion


Video: Thomas Pesquet’s Alpha mission


Video: Thomas Pesquet: Biography and training