CTAE offers free Space Outreach presentation to the general public
Published June 11, 2010
CTAE staff is often invited to give talks to a variety of audiences. The “ESA Space Show”, a breathtaking video recently produced by the European Space Agency, has provided a very convenient support. Last May, CTAE director Juan de Dalmau made two such presentations to “space interested laymen”. The first was in Castelldefels, in the frame of the UPC-City of Castelldefels “Senior University”, offered to the elderly people. The second one was in the city of Reus, at an event organized by the Reddis Foundation.
The presentation follows the scenario of ESA’s video, and takes the viewer on a virtual journey along the formation of the Universe and our Solar System. The journey starts with the Big Bang and continues to the formation of stars, galaxies, our solar system, and the Earth. The history of the Earth´s formation includes its cooling period and the meteorite bombardment, which is believed to have brought water and possibly life to our planet.
As current and future missions continue to explore the Moon and the planets in the Solar System, some ESA and NASA missions are highlighted, focusing on what science they will be conducting and how this information will help us better understand our own planet and its climate change.
Then the various satellite services to citizens are described, such as providing communications, navigation, monitoring of the atmospheric, ocean and land environment, and weather forecasts. A discussion follows on Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, from where the Ariane rockets are launched. Ariane launchers have been operating from Kourou for the last 30 years and have successfully launched about half of the world’s communication satellites.
After the presentation, interesting discussions follow with participation from the public. One such debates focused on the future colonization of Mars, which is the most likely candidate to host human colonies in the foreseeable future. The question of whether it would be ethical to transform the Mars atmosphere to make it breathable for humans was also discussed. We left these complex issues to be further explored by the younger generation and in particular by secondary school students, who come to the Castelldefels campus each year to conduct research projects on Mars colonization.