The BIS once more at ESA/ESRIN
On 27 September, the BIS participated once again at the European Researchers’ Night event held at the Italian centre of the Agency, ESRIN (European Space Research Institute), the ESA centre devoted to Earth Observation, where research and data dissemination for all of the Agency’s EO missions are managed. ESRIN is also the home of the NEO (Near Earth Objects) Centre, the Vega launcher programme, and Space Rider.
All these topics, and others, were showcased in the complex afternoon/night event, attended by 2000 people. As usual, registrations went sold out in less than 24 hours.
For this year’s edition, a new format for the event was put into practice and the BIS managed five different activities deployed in one section of ESRIN’s main conferences hall, sharing the space with other activities, in one room (because it needed a dark environment) and, of course, to launch our model rockets outside.
The video below shows the final moments of the setup before the public arrival.
The five activities that our BIS-Italia team of 16 people managed where:
- How a launcher works, about the avionics of a launcher, designed for, and managed on behalf of the Vega Launcher Programme;
- A matter of a certain gravity, to explain to all ages the truth behind “floating into space” and free-fall;
- Return from space, about the role of astronauts and the approach and landing of the Space Shuttle, experienced with our new Space Shuttle Landing simulator;
- FLEX: Fluorescence Explorer, to explain the principle of the FLORIS instrument to detect and map chlorophyll over the whole planet;
- Model Rocketry, with daylight and night launches of rockets providing the basic elements of this hobby.
The perfect organisation at ESA gives great satisfaction to everyone participating in this event. The contact with the public is done in ideal conditions, with many discussions started alongside the various activities. It is an intense event, the preparation of which takes different days, and our work ends well past midnight. However, there is always great enthusiasm in being a part of it.
For the younger volunteers who help during the event (including students from a local high-school), this is a great opportunity to operate in a very professional environment. These experiences are always highly formative. Over the course of the years, we saw some of these students returning as university students, telling us how much this experience helped them decide about their future.
The BIS wishes to extend its very sincere gratitude to ESRIN, its directorate, its staff and logistics team, and all the people involved, for providing us a great stage in which to demonstrate our competence and our passion for astronautics. This year we were given a central position in the Big Hall, with a unique background of ESA activities and the returns they offer to humanity. It has been an immense privilege for us to have been, yet again, part of the ESA family, and we look forward to future engagements.
A special thank is also due to the volunteers that supported the activity with enthusiasm and dedication. This is the real force behind the BIS.
