Astronomy and Space in Europe
The contemplation and study of the stars makes a man think in a more sublime way when he comes back to earthly subjects. We don’t know if the astronomers that participate in Campus Party are true to this paraphrase that we have borrowed from Marco Tulio Cicerón and are sublime in their daily lives. However, what they have demonstrated, and they will continue to do so, is that the study of space is a passionate job.
What we do know is that in Campus Party you can Discovery the latest investigations and developments in Astronomy and Space: the secrets of the Great Telescope in the Canary Islands (the biggest in the World), the plans for Mars from the European Space Agency, or the possibilities that the remote observations by Experts and Astronomy Enthusiast Communities from all over Europe have to offer.
However, the plans for the participants of Campus Party Europe are set a lot higher, over 30 kilometres upwards to be exact, as they will build a balloon probe with different types of sensors, a challenge where teamwork and knowledge sharing are essential.
Coordinated by Sondas Espaciales (Space Probes Spain) and Le Cartier du Ciel (France).
Conference • 04/15/2010 - 11.00h
Living and Working in Space
Youtube French astronaut Jean Francois Clervoy is a member of the European Space Agency (ESA), has traveled to space twice on board the space shuttles Atlantis and Discovery, spending 675 hours in space. In his lecture, he will show the everyday work of the missions he has accomplished. In 1991, he trained in Star City, Moscow, on the Soyuz and Mir systems. In 1992, he joined the astronaut corps of the European Space Agency (ESA) at the European Astronaut Center EAC in Cologne. Clervoy was stationed at the NASA Johnson Space Center/Houston in August 1992 to gain the Space Shuttle mission specialist qualifications. Clervoy has three Space Flight Medals and two NASA Exceptional Service Medals, among others. In his lecture, he will show the everyday work of the missions he has accomplished.
Conference • 04/15/2010 - 21.00h
Technology to Reach the Universe
Youtube Ramon García López is an astrophysicist and coordinator of the implementation of the Astrophysics Institute of the Canary Islands. His research interests include the study of the atmosphere, structure and stellar evolution, galactic chemical evolution, astrophysics and particle astrophysics instrumentation. In Campus Party Europe will get to know the daily work in the largest optical-infrared telescope at the time. Apart from Spain, it involves the University of Florida (USA), National Autonomous University and National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics, both of Mexico. Its construction has been a major business and technological challenge for the national and European industry. This next-generation instrument, with its segmented primary mirror measuring 11.4 meters, together with the high quality of the observatory´s sky, is a major contribution to the current astrophysics.
Workshop • 04/15/2010 - 22.00h
Closer to the Stars
If only for a moment, Campus Party participants in Europe may admire the curvature of the Earth and the Universe's immensity as seen by astronauts. A point of view that will be achieved through the camera set in the observatory balloon that we will build and rise to the confines of the atmosphere at a height three times higher than the achieved by any commercial flight.
Conference • 16/04/2010 - 12.00h
The EXOMARS ROVER Mission to Search for Signs of Life
Youtube Establishing whether life ever existed on Mars is one of the outstanding scientific questions of our time. To address this and other important goals, the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA have agreed to establish a joint programme for the robotic exploration of Mars. The ESA/NASA Programme includes two major missions:
1. An orbiter, to be launched in 2016, dedicated to the temporal and spatial characterisation of atmospheric trace gases of possible biological importance, such as methane and its degradation products, and including the mapping of their source regions.
2. A two-rover mission to be launched in 2018: one rover provided by NASA and the other by ESA. ESA’s ExoMars rover will carry a suite of analytical instruments dedicated to exobiology and geochemistry research: the Pasteur payload. The Rover will travel several kilometres, collecting and analysing samples from outcrops and from the subsurface with a drill, down to a depth of 2 m.
This talk will present the latest configuration for the 2018 two-rover mission, concentrating on the ExoMars rover, its instrument payload, and reference surface mission. Upcoming steps for the definition of the joint mission’s science content and landing site selection activities will also be addressed.
Conference • 16/04/2010 - 18.00h
The Greatest Mysteries of the Universe
Youtube Stuart Clark is one of the UK’s most widely read astronomy journalists. His career is devoted to presenting the complex world of astronomy to the general public. Stuart holds a first class honours degree and a PhD in astrophysics. He is a former editor of Astronomy Now magazine. Currently he spends most of his time writing books, punctuating this with work for the European Space Agency, New Scientist, BBC Focus and BBC Sky at Night. Stuart is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a former Vice Chair of the Association of British Science Writers. In his lecture, entitled “The greatest mysteries of the Universe”, Stuart Clark will talk about the 20 biggest mysteries facing astronomers.
Conference • 04/17/2010 - 12.00h
LHC: Going to the future to explore the past
Youtube Professor Sergio Bertolucci is currently Director of Research and Scientific Computing at CERN (The European organization for nuclear research). Prof. Bertolucci has a degree in Physics, summa cum laude at Pisa and he has been working in the field of Experimental Particle Physics, mostly at DESY in Hamburg, at Fermi National Laboratory in Chicago and at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN). He has held key roles in the design, construction and exploitation of important experiments and particle accelerators (e.g. CDF and KLOE experiments, DAFNE collider). In Campus party Europe Prof. Bertolucci will provide information on the experiments being conducted at CERN.
The Large Hadron Collider has just started operations at 7 TeV, opening a very exciting space for extraordinary discoveries, which would cast light into many unsolved problems of the modern physics. The seminar will describe the status and the outlook of the LHC program, trying to convey the thrill of the community and especially of young researchers.
