Study tour to ESA and CERN

Between April 14th and 22nd,, the winners of the Direction: Space contest, along with their mentors, participated in a study tour to leading space and technology centers in Europe. During the trip, they presented and consulted their projects with experts from the European Space Agency and CERN.

The trip began with consultations on the winning projects at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), the largest center of the European Space Agency (ESA), located in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. ESTEC is a key center for the development of space projects and technologies in Europe. It is where most of ESA's satellites and space probes were designed and tested. Next, they participated in space experiments design in the ICE Cubes standard workshop at the Dutch headquarters of Space Applications company.

The participants continued their educational adventure by visiting the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, where astronauts prepare for missions to the International Space Station (ISS). They learned ISS communication procedures by visiting the Eurocoms communication center and visited the ISS test modules. The journey concluded with a visit to the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, known for its pioneering research on elementary particles. The laureates visited key experimental sites at CERN and get trained on the impact of radiation on electronics.

We believe that the experience and contacts gained during the tour will support the development of the projects and also contribute to Poland's strategic involvement in international space initiatives.

Announcement of the results of the Competition

We present you the winners of the Direction: Space Competition!

On March, the 10th, during the final gala at the Silesian Planetarium the jury announced the winners of the Direction: Space Competition. Three equal main prizes were awarded. They were received by the following teams:

🏆 AGH Space Systems GraviTE Team from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow

🏆 HematopoiesISS from the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice and the Jagiellonian University in Krakow

🏆 GrowLight from the Warsaw University of Technology.

Each of the winning teams will receive a microgrant of 26,000 Polish złoty for further development of their project and an invitation to participate in a study visit to CERN, the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC), and the European Astronaut Centre (ESA EAC).

Congratulations to the winners, as well as to all the finalists of the Competition!

Here we publish the names of the finalist teams, project titles, and affiliations.

Do you have an idea that could take on a cosmic dimension?

Are you currently working on a concept that could be applied in the realm of space explorations? Follow "Direction Space" and design an experiment that one day could go to the International Space Station!

We are looking for first-, second- and third-level students from Polish universities (including those studying majors not usually associated with space science and engineering), ready to take part in the extraterrestrial race.

Space applications need a variety of skills and we are not afraid to say that space is for everyone!

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