Events

The 2017 Nordic Semi-final for the participants qualifying from the first phase of the Odysseus contest will take place at the ScienceTalents Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center in Soroe, Denmark from the 15th to the 17th of June 2017.

The event is held as an all-inclusive 3-days science camp, where the finalists of the Pioneers category from 5 countries will be found. Furthermore, we have arranged many exciting activities to make sure it will be a fun and memorable experience for all participants.

The activities include presentations, competitions and social activities, all with space and science as focal point.

Activities and presentations are adapted to challenge and entertain participants.

ScienceTalents is an Education Center for children and teenagers with a special interest in science. The Center is located in a historical environment alongside Soroe Academy. An area where H.C. Andersen, amongst others, sought inspiration.

The 2016 Odysseus Contest Final took place from 5^th to 8^th July 2016, at the Euro Space Center in Transinne, Belgium, under the high patronage of the European Parliament.   The Final gathered the top Pioneers teams  and Explorers, winners at the national and regional stages, organized during the past academic year.

The 31 Odysseus finalists from 11 countries enjoyed four days full of fun and Space related experiences and engaged in a space science challenge that enabled them to showcase their skills, knowledge and talent.

Space mission simulations, astronaut training exercises, lectures about life in space and space industry were only a few of the programme activities. The finalists also visited the Redu ground station of the European Space Agency and the Observatory in Ardennes.

On Thursday 7^th of July, the Pionners and Explorers presented their entries in the Odysseus II International Jury Panel and whole process of the projects’ presentations was live streamed.

The winners in all categories, including the Skywalkers, which top entries were decided through on-line voting by all members of the Odysseus community, were announced on Friday 8^th July, in the 2016 Odysseus Winners Award Ceremony.

The 2016 Pioneers Finalists

The 2016 Explorers Finalists

How to fight fires with space technology

In the Redu Station of ESA

The Jury panel

Astronaut training

Cleaning space from the trash

…. more training and fun

Can you still do your tasks?

Watching distant planets

Presenting the project

Mission Red 2030

The Odysseus Semi – Final for Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia took place in Warsaw between 12 and 15 of April.

A considerable part of the semi – final consisted of presentations of the participating entries. All teams had the chance to demonstrate their knowledge and skills during their 20 – minute presentation and to answer to the questions from the Jury members and other participants.

Apart from the actual contest the participants took part in a number of outreach activities. They watched a show about Black Holes in the Planetarium Heavens of Copernicus and made scientific experiments in the Copernicus Science Centre.  They also took a tour in the SRCPAS labs and they visited the Astronomical Observatory in Ostrowik.  In the Observatory the participants experienced Fireplace, puns, guitar, celtic dances lesson and got familiarized with the routine works of training and observation of the Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory.

Results of the ODYSSEUS II Semi-Final, Warsaw 12 – 15 IV 2016

The top team in the Pioneers category was “KOSMICZNI_EKOLODZY”, consisting of Jakub Brach and Radosław Paluch from Świętochłowice, Poland with the project entitled „Śmietnik nad głową”.

The winner in the Exploers category was Jan Jędryszek, student in the Jagielonian University, with the project entitled “Why is the definition of life and life’s origins on Earth important in extraterrestrial research?”

A number of special awards was presented to the following contestants:

In the Pioneers category:

• Encouragement Award for their studies of Mars was presented to Robert Cīrulis and Matīss Norenberg from Krote, Latvia
• Award for Excellent presentation was presented to Annija Kliemane, Rojs Sergejevs, and Harijs Pēteris Broks From Skrundas, Latvia
• Award for the most visionary project was presented to Jakub Danielewicz and Julia Biały From Kraków, Poland
• Award for outstanding technical merit of the project was presented to Marcin Polak and Paweł Niedziela From Niedźwiada, Poland
• Award for the best scientific literature review was presented to Nemiria Zilinskaite, Arnas Tamasauskas, and Juste Skeiveryte from Šiauliai, Lithuania
• Award for the technical innovation of the project was presented to: Przemysław Litwin, Julia Niemczycka and Jakub Dworzański From Wrocław, Poland

In the Explorer Category:

• Achievement Award for the outstanding scientific experimentation was presented to Dawid Przystupski from Wrocław, Poland
• Achievement Award for the visionary project was presented to Bartłomiej Ziętek from Wrocław, Poland
• Encouragement Award for the academic excellence of her work was presented to Viktorija Leimane from Tukums, Latvia

JURY

The judging committee comprised of: Prof. Barbara Popielawska, Prof. Maria Agnieszka Bzowska, Ms Ausma Bruņeniece, Prof. Stanisław Zoła, Prof. Romualda Lazauskaite, Prof. Alexey Pamyatnykh, Dr. Andris Slavinskis and Dr. Magdalena Sroczyńska – Kożuchowska.

Participants and Judges outside the SRC PAS

The winners in the Pioneers category receiving their medals

Jan Jędryszek, winner in the Explorers category

Contestants in the Copernicus Science Centre

Experimenting in Copernicus Science Centre

In the fireplace

Tour in the labs of SRC

Altec and Politecnico di Torino organized the regional finals for Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Malta in Turin at Altec premises. Six Pioneers teams coming from Italy and Croatia participated to the activities. The two Explorers teams from Italy and Croatia as well joined the other contestants in Graz, Austria.

During the two days there were visit opportunities to the Thales Alenia Space facilities, the Altec building and the Turin Polytechnic aerospace laboratories. In particular it was possible to visit the Cygnus module production, the iXV suborbital re-entry vehicle recovered after its mission, mars terrain, mars prototypes, control centres and cubesats.

There were lectures as well as meeting opportunities between students, teachers, space engineers and operators. Face to face discussions were a great chance to enhance the enthusiasm in space activities and exploration. All the students were really engaged with the projects.

All the projects had an excellent quality and all the presentations were extremely professional, especially when considering the age of the participants.

Sara Molinaroli, Linda Benin and Cesare Dal Degan, with their professor Massimo Bubani from Belfiore (Verona – Italy) presented a very beautiful mockup with a robot dedicated to look for habitability zones around stars, an argument of special interest during these days due to new discoveries.

Another project looking for new habitable planets, with a very beautiful presentation, was prepared by Lorena Kerep, Lorena Cvetković and Dominik Filipović, with their teacher Ana Popović, coming from Samobor – Croatia.

Mars was addressed by many projects. Elisabetta Callegaro, Francesco Roana and Giacomo Dal Toso with their teacher Marco Zoso from Valdagno (Vicenza – Italy) prepared a project of a Mars base with a lot of details. They made project tee-shirts as well.

A very special approach was followed by Tamara Rinati, Letizia Paone and Martina Auditore with their teacher Concetta D’Arrigo coming from Santa Teresa di Riva (Messina – Italy). They recorded a television program that was talking about technical discussions assembled with a lot of fun. For Turin’s finals the added a second episode very appreciated by the public.

Luca Cattani, Davide Cattani, Elia Mazzari and their teacher Elena Gabbiani from Piacenza (Italy) decided to place their very detailed base on the Moon. Their presentation provided a lot of information to sort out a big problem: how to make it self-sustaining.

There was another team: the winning one. Giulia Bassani, Nicola Timpano and the teacher Tommaso Marino from Collegno (Torino – Italy) prepared a mock-up and an excellent project presentation for a Mars base. They will show it in the European finals again, with additional refinements as the project is ongoing. In the meantime Giulia is training to become an astronaut.

The organizing team in Turin wishes to all the participant a successful follow on in their space adventures.

Arrival at Altec

All the participants on Mars

Goran our Croatian Judge

A robot looking for a habitable planet

Virtual Reality

Dominik, Ana, Lorena and Lorena

Giulia, Tommaso and Nicola

Concetta, Tamara, Letizia and Martina

Ellia, Luca, Davide and Elena

Giacomo, Elisabetta, Francesco and Marco

Sara, Linda, Cesare and Massimo

Polytechnics cubesat

Presentation about cubesat activities

The Odysseus regional semi-final for Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania was organised by the Czech Space Office in iQLANDIA Science center in Liberec from 4th April to 8th April 2016. The event featured an extensive hands-on activities programme and excursions when in addition to presenting their project entries in front of a jury, the semi-finalists visited space science-related laboratories, attended lectures, met space professionals and participated in fun-oriented activities with altogether 31 students from the region.

In a very exciting contest of 13 teams, two of the Pioneers teams tied for the first place due to the high quality of their presentations and they both qualified to the International Final.

1. The team from the Gymnasium Jaroslava Seiferta in Prague and Gymnasium Špitálská in Prague with the project “Finding prediscovery positions of minor planets”, ASTEROIDS in short, consisting of the students Jakub Janoušek, Lukáš Sláma and Michal Koldinský and coached by Mr Daniel Mareš. The team aimed at searching archive images of minor planets to improve their orbits. In case of few of them team provided more precise orbital parameters and they have discovered one unknown minor planet. However, this still has not been verified by the US Minor Planet Center. Their results show that the old databases still contain lots of useful data about minor planets and their properties.
2. The team from the “Tudor Vianu” National High School of Computer Science, with the project AstroVianu Lab, consisting of the the students Andreea Zaharia and Vlad Panait, coached by Ms Ioana Stoica. This project  is based on the concerns in astrobiology to determine whether or not an unexplored planet is habitable. Students have chosen the mission to implement a planetary rover to measure and, hence, study certain vital parameters on such a territory.

Team photo of all participants in the iQLANDIA Science center

Participants presenting their project in front of the evaluators

The winning teams receiving their medals

Half of the ten evaluators

The world’s first minisatellite MAGION-1

Tour of the Ionospheric observatory in Průhonice

The University of Graz hosted the regional event for Austria, Germany and Hungary in the Pioneers category and for Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece and Italy in the Explorers category. The team Hibah_977 from India, which toped the first round among non-EU entries, also participated in the regional semi-final for Pioneers.

It was really hard for the jury to select the three top projects (one in the Pioneers and two in the Explorers category), as all the participating projects were excellent. In the Pioneers category, AlphaTeam from Germany, consisting of Alexander Haake and Lukas Mohr qualified to the International Final with the project “Magnet Rocket”.

In the Explorers, Alice Antonelli with the project “Punto di vista orbital” won the first place and qualified to the Final of July. Dimitris Athanasopoulos and Konstantinos Karampelas with the project entitled “Moon Underground: Space Humanity’s Room” were awarded the second place and qualified also to the Final.

Alexander and Lukas with their teacher Mr Sven Hebestedt and Alice Antonelli between Univ.-Prof. Arnold Hanslmeier (left) and Univ.-Prof. Dr. Neuper, rector/vice-chancellor of the University of Graz, (on the right)

 

The Semi-final of the Odysseus II Contest for Pioneers and Explorers from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom took place at Science Talents, Sorø, Denmark from Sunday 10th April to Wednesday 13th April 2016.  The contestants took part in a four-day Space Camp at the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Science Centre on the grounds of the famous Danish school, Sorø Academy. The camp  included 3 nights in the Talent Hotel and  entertained and challenged the national Odysseus winners with science activities, lectures and competitions.

In the Pioneers category with four team competing the winners were Team MissionRed2030 from United Kingdom consisting of students Rebecca Hayward (15) and Eleanor Ivey (16) who both attend Hockerill Anglo-European College. “We are really surprised and happy. All the groups were good so we were lucky to win”, said a smiling Eleanor Ivey.  The judges especially acknowledged that Rebecca and Eleanor made a very nice presentation and had a impressing concept for traveling to Mars and eventually living there. “Team MissionRed2030 had the most artistic submission and most innovative solution”, the jurors stated.’

In the Explorers category Daniel Nilsson (23) from Sweden won with his project Safer firefighting by using Galileo data. “I’m happy to win, but also just to participate”, said Daniel Nilsson who studies at Luleå University of Technology. The jurors again acknowledged the concept as being very innovative and stated that Daniels project was the “Most professional presentation and most applicable project in the near future”.

“You are the future and this contest shows that we have a lot of space science talent in Europe, I’m really impressed by your projects and presentations at the semifinals here in Denmark”, said Kristian Pedersen director of DTU Space who handed over the prizes.  Although not all could win everybody were having a really good time with the four day program at the science camp. “I wish I could just stay here forever, it’s so exiting”, said Harry Woodhouse from The Royal Wootton Bassett Academy in the United Kingdom.

The accompanying teachers also felt that they could go back with new knowledge of space science and technology. “It’s been a really impressing program and the young people have meet each other and participated regardless of differences in age and countries. We should be doing much more international exchanges like this”, said teacher Guy Dinwiddy from Hockerill Anglo-European College.

Apart from the competition there were drone flying, rocket-calculations and launch, a visit to a nearby observatory and a number of speeches. Even the Danish sky provided inputs; The ISS flew by on a clear late evening sky over the lake at Soroe where the event took place. And teacher and astrophysicist at the camp Steen Jorgensen took out his telescope a focused in so all could see Jupiter and a number of it’s impressing moons sharp and clear.

Altogether there were 13 Participants in the regional semifinals at Soroe in Denmark coming from the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Four were distributed in three groups in the Explorers category and nine were constituting four groups in the Pioneers category.

In July the winners will go to Brussels for the finals and receive their prize – a computerized telescope.

All groups were honoured for their projects:

Pioneers category:

Winners: MissionRed2030. For most artistic submission and most innovative solution

• Rebecca Hayward – United Kingdom, Hockerill Anglo-European College, Team MissionRed2030.
• Eleanor Ivey – United Kingdom, Hockerill Anglo-European College, Team MissionRed2030.

Honoured: Team: evidence for Big Bang. For most ambitious project – you have a future in astrophysics

• Tom Knighton – United Kingdom, St. Jonhs School, Team: evidence for Big Bang.
• Tom Ellis – United Kingdom, St. Jonhs School, Team: evidence for Big Bang.

Honoured: Team: Managing Resources on Mars. For Best usage of space knowledge basics

• Mike Edwards – United Kingdom, Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, Team: Managing Resources on Mars.
• Jos Jeapes – United Kingdom, Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, Team: Managing Resources on Mars.
• Harry Woodhouse – United Kingdom, Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, Team: Managing Resources on Mars.

Honoured: Team Hime/Enceladus. For most original and challenging problem

• Emil Enevoldsen – Denmark, Store Magleby Skole, Team Hime.
• Carl Vistisen – Denmark, Holbergskolen, Team Hime.

Explorers category

Winner. Project: Safer firefighting by Galileo data. For Most professional presentation and most applicable project in the near future

• Daniel Nilsson – Sweden, Luleå University of Technology, Safer Firefighting.

Honoured. Project: Lunar Base. For best usage of space knowledge basics

• Topias Zein, Finland, Aalto University, project: Lunar settlement.

Honoured. Project: ARTEMIS. For most comprehensive overview of current and future space technology

• Federico Giusto – United Kingdom, Loughborough University, team: Martian Transfer Vehicles.
• James Cooper – United Kingdom, Loughborough University, team: Martian Transfer Vehicles.

Rebecca Hayward (left) and Eleanor Ivey. Winners in the pioneer category

Daniel Nilsson (right). Winner in the Explorers category receives his prize from DTU Space director Kristian Pedersen

Rocket launch after calculations and production own individual rocket

The programme of events included:

• Lectures by Science Talents’ own science ambassadors and by space researchers from the Danish National Space Institute (DTU Space):
• Carol Anne Oxborrow: ‘The Great Gatsby and the Sea of the Past’
• Martin Bødker Enghoff: ‘Cosmic radiation, cosmic weather’
• Presentation and judging of the Odysseus national winners’ projects
• Prize-giving for the Nordic Odysseus Winners
• Rocket fuel
• Rockets and air-rockets
• Model rockets
• Solar cells
• Space-elevator contest
• Lego Mindstorms
• Team-building
• Evening get-together in the Talent Hotel
• Various small competitions
• Segway rides
• GPS orientering on the Akademi grounds

Watch the Science Talents introductory video

The semi final of Odysseus II for Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece in the Pioneers’ category took place on 2 – 4 April 2016, at NOESIS Science Centre, in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Seven teams, which had qualified from the first round of the contest, competed in the regional final and presented their projects in front of a jury.

The judging committee comprised of Emeritus Professro J. Seiradakis, Astrophysicist, from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dr. Ivanka Stateva, Associate Professor at the Institute of Astronomy and NAO, BAS, Bulgaria and Professor V. Charmandaris, Astrophysicist, director of IAASARS (Institute for astronomy, astrophysics, space, applications and remote seeing), National Observatory of Athens.

During the first day the contestants were given a grand tour of NOESIS Science Centre and Museum, attended a show in the planetarium auditorium and prepared their presentations for the next day.  In the evening they visited the observatory in the campus of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where Prof. Seiradakis gave a short lecture on gravitational waves and a fruitful discussion followed.

The winning team of the regional final was the team «Astronomy Addicted» from the Hellenic-American Educational Foundation, Athens, with the project entitled «Living with the solar wind».

Special citations were given to the following teams:

• Diploma for the best scientific project to the AQUANAUTS team (Astronomical Observatory and Planetarium Nicolaus Copernicus, Varna, Bulgaria).
• Diploma for the most artistic presentation to the ETI_ALI team (Astronomical Observatory and Planetarium Nicolaus Copernicus, Varna, Bulgaria).
-
• Diploma for the best practical value project to the EXTRA TERRESTRIAL ASTRONOMERS team (Vocational High School of Velestino, Greece)
• Diploma for the most socially relevant project to the EXO-ANIMALS team (Experimental High School of the University of Patras, Greece).
• Diploma for sustainability and environmental awareness to the METEOTEAM team (The G C School of Careers, Nicosia, Cyprus)
• Diploma for girls in science to the CASSIOPEIA team (Theklio High School, Lemesos, Cyprus)

In total 19 pupils participated in the regional final, 13 out which were girls!

The Jury Panel

Presenting the project in front of the jury

In the observatory of the university

Teams having fun in the 3D simulator

The winning team receiving their medals

The semi-final for the national finalists from France and Belgium was organized on March 30-31^st and April 1^st  in Cité de l’espace, in Toulouse, France.

For this occasion, the Pioneers contestants met with the former ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald, who came to the event especially to share his experience on Mir space station and exchange with the contestants.

In Pioneers category, Emma Robin, Solène Dumas-Grollier and Martial Santorelli from JupitLP2I team with the project “Surf on Jupiter” qualified to the international final which will take place in Belgium from 5^th to 8^th of July.

In the Explorers category, Clément Chantebel and Léopold Comby with the project “Martian airship drone conception” toped the regional final and will also compete in the international final.

Surf on Jupiter project presentation.

JupitLP2I Pioneers team.

ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald presentation.

Martian airship drone conception project presentation.

Explorers finalists (from left to right : Pierre Bories, Léopold Combi, Clément Chantebel, Chris de Claverie and Jordan Culeux).

Filtering water experiment, part of the MALE project- Martian survival kits.

ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald with Pioneers teams and jury members.

Explorers jury members (from left to right : Jean-Paul Castro, Ines Prieto, Michel Rouzé, Claire Edery-Guirado, Christophe Chaffardon. Jacqueline Fabre and Christine Correcher, missing from the photo, were part of Pioneers jury).

ADONIS project presentation