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Do contests contribute to space education?
Act-, A#troaaatic= Vo1.24, pp. 315-321, 1991
0094-5765/91 $3.00 + 0.00
PergamemPress pie
Printed in Great Britain
DO CONTESTS CONTRIBUTE TO SPACE EDUCATION?
This paper resumes the effect of this competition for the former winners who were invited to visit the launch-site in Kourou, French Guyana, and to
the lift-off of ARIANE VI4 with the Giotto spacecraft payload on 2.July 1985. s¢¢
Author:
After a selection in the different member states,
Manfred Heuberger, Haslerastrasse 25, C H - 3186 Dtidingen, Switzerland.
Coauthor:Christophe Perier, Les foug~res de la Florida C h e m i n des A m o u r e u x , F - 83990 Saint-Tropez France
0. A B S T R A C T
:
In 1985 ESA and CNES organized an international youth competition on the occasion of the launch of the Giotto spacecraft by ARIANE V14. A group of 19 winners were invited to see the launch site and French Guyana. What was the contr.ibution of this GIOTTO competition to the winners and their space education? This is a report of the competition and what the former winners think about it fife years later.
19 students were determined to participate at the meeting in Kourou. This first assembly was the origin of the E.S.T.A. (European Space Technology Association) as we use to call our group. In a first phase after the meeting in Kourou, we exchanged information about our individual space projects on epistolary way. A second meeting was hold in 1986 in Paris during the encounter of the Giotto spacecraft with Halleys comet. In the meantime we made progress in our studies (physics, mathematics, programming ...) and the interest of information exchange embracing for example political events and opinions or experimental results in physics increased as well as our international friendship. The third meeting took place in Switzerland last year, and we decided to organize an annual meeting in one of the member countries with the
goal to become acquainted with the different European cultures and to promote the international cooperation in science and space interests.
2.
1. I N T R O D U C T I O N One of the cooperation mission in impulse for international
;
successful highlights for international in space was the European GIOTTO 1985186. This opportunity was the CNES and ESA Paris to organize an competition in spring 1985 for the
The
Giotto.comnetition
Many years of European cooperation and hard work culminated in the succsessful launch in the jungle of French Guyana. But for a group of 19 young people, observing this spectacle near the launch-pad, it was more than this:
youth in the respective member states. The goal of this competition was to activate the interest of young Europeans in space.
Copyright ~:) 1990 by ESTA. Publishcd by the lntcrnallonal Aslronautical Fcdcralion. with
315
pcrmisslon.
316
41st IAF co,s,,,,
Their presence in Kourou on 2.July 1985 was the first prize of the International Giotto competition. The Giotto competition was organized by the ESA/CNES to emphasize and also promote the interest of young Europeans in space techniques and international space-projects like "GIOTTO". So the competitions commission was to develop a realistic and original space mission to Halley's comet using the available know-how and conventional space techniques. The direct realization of the competition in each member state of the European Space Agency and the task to determine the national winner was transferred to local organisations. The first prize winners of each nation finally were invited to visit French Guyana and ESAs launch facilities. The space projects presented by the winners covered a wide range of different space topics like life science, orbit computing, tracking of Halley's comet, flight to Mars or an astrometric spacecraft.
3,
The
winners:
The winners of the 1985 GIOTTO competition came from 10 different nations. Ten winners were invited by the ESA, 8 winners by the CNES, and 1 winner by the IAF. Maybe some 80% of the group were already interested in space before the competition. One of their most important hobbies was Astronomy. In 1985, about 50% of us intended or were about to begin a study of either physics or mathematics at the university. The following list contains all 19 winners that were invited to French Guyana: .
winners
by the ESAI
Jtirgen Beier, W . G e r m a n y S t e p h a n Berglund, Sweden Stewart Combes, England Joaquin Fort Viader, Spain Aaron Golden, Ireland Manfred Heuberger, Switzerland C h r i s t o p h e Perier, France Anton Sorensen, D e n m a r k B e r n a r d Steenis, B e l g i q u e J e r o e n Stolk, N e t h e r l a n d •
winners by the ONES ; F r a n k Brudieux, F r a n c e Esaie Dorcent, G u y a n e Gu~naelle Luec, France C h r i s t o p h e Marlot, France Philippe Rousselot, F r a n c e Gilles et Pascal Bequet, France Faical G a r g o u r i , France
•
winner by the I A F Alexandre
Szames,
: France
41st lAP COngeus 4.
Personal
exoeriences
on
the
trip to
The following two reports shall give an idea of the personal experiences of two group members in French Guyana. We all had similar positive impressions of the launch, the c o r d i a l demonstration of the launch site, and last but not least of the country and its habitants.
ARIANE V14 experience
A once in a lifetime
"After four flights in a day transformed by" time zones into 28 of the most interesting hours of my life, I for once was glad of the mere four hours of sleep we were granted. On the day of the launch, however, I had no difficulty in keeping my eyes open. It was an experience that will probably never be repeated in my life. The following day's trip around the launch site was both interesting and informative and the small memento from the r o c k e t itself most appreciated. Lunch, and the subsequent excursions on the river completed a thoroughly enjoyable day. My thanks go to the "organizers, Berit, Guy and Jacqueline whose efforts made the whole holiday thoroughly worthwhile. Without them it would not have been the same. Many thanks for an enjoyable trip."
Stuart Combes (England, Feb.2.1986)
317
SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO THE TRIP : "The Giotto launch became even more interesting than ! expected it to be. Additional information about the Giotto mission kindly supplied to us was also worthy. We were given some reading material about comet Halley (19820 and the Giotto spacecraft which proved useful. ! was delighted to meet Prof. Last, General Director of the European Space Agency as well as several other bright scientists in the buffet lunch hold on July 2nd. in Kourou. Visiting such a distant area as Guyana is always impressive to a European and the native plants and animals as well as the customs and the cities and villages were of high interest, Finally, our three guides and most of other Giotto Competition prizewinners seemed to have a relatively high astronomical level," PERSONAL APPROACH TO THE TRIP : "Traveling arrangements by the esa were perfect in all senses. Our guides Miss Friberg, Mrs. Serra and Mr. Pignolet proved to be excellent. Other prizewinners were very nice and they all seemed to have great interest for the trip. We have all surprisingly become very good friends in a f e w days in spite of the different places from where we come and the short time we have been in personal contact .... ... To sum it up I would say that i have enjoyed the prize and am extremely grateful to the European Space Agency as well as to the Spanish COMISION NACiONAL DE LA INVESTIGACION DEL ESPACIO and wish 1 could somehow manage to do something in return in the future." Fort Viader (Spain, Nov. 21. 1985)
Joaquin
318
41st IAF Con&resa
5, C o n t r i b u t i o n s of t h e GIOTTO ~ o n t e s t to the f o r m e r w i n n e r s fi f e years later: The following statements report the competitions contribution to each former winner after fife years. Though the individual development after the competition was rather different, one can see some significant parallels. Often the competition was an impulse to continue in working on space research in any
Enfin, ce concours nous a permis de crier I'ESTA, une association d l'#chelle europ#enne qui vise d concrltiser et d#velopper les amities et les collaborations. En conclusion je dirais qu'un concours du type GIOTTO 1985 est tr~s b#n#fique au d~veloppement des gagnants. Je n'affirmerai pas que les effets du concours sont identiques sur chaque membres gagnants, mais globalement ils sont plut6t positifs, aux rues des cursus des membres de FESTA. "
way:
Contributions du CONCOURS GIOTTO 1985 mon ~volution personelle dans les domaines de l'astronomie et de l'espace: " Ma passion pour la science et notamment l'astronomie, m'a permis de continuer rues #tudes en math#matiques. La math#matique est sans doute un domaine de la science plus #loign# de l'astronomie que la physique, mais cela dit je continue d #xercer l'astronomie par l'interm4diaire d'une association d'astronomes amateurs. C' est ainsi que nous disposons d'un gros t#lescope de Schmitt de 500ram (10 ° de champ) install# sous une coupole, qui nous peDnet de r#aliser des cliches photographiques de com~tes et autres objets rapides (comme les ast#roides). Nous travaillons en collaboration avec le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) par l'interm~diaire de la RCP. 639. Le concours GIOTTO m'a done permis de concr#tiser rna passion en conaissant des professionnels de l'astronomie qui m'ont aid# dons mon travail. Sur un plan plus humain il m'a permis de conna[tre des #tudiants de l'Europe enti~re, de voyager, de r~ver d une plus grande unit# de la population europ#enne.
Christophe Perier (France, June 22. 1990)
41at IAF Con&rus C o n t r i b u t i o n s of the to my f u r t h e r llfe :
GIOTTO
eomnetition
" The European GIOTTO competition and the fact that 1 participated to it was a real milestone in my life. Surely, I was interested in space before, but this was the first confirmation to me that it could be more than a mere interest, say h o b b y . The competition opened doors to important personalities in the fields of space research and industry. And, what is still more important to me, it summoned up my courage to work on other space projects. So a friend and i participated at another competition (SCHWEIZER JUGEND FORSCHT) on 1986/87 with a space project and a C.A.D.program for PC, And again we met important scientists and politicians... Parts of our work were announced for patent and we had the possibility to meet industrial managers and to learn a lot. In August 1990 I am invited to represent Switzerland at the first International Space Camp in Alabama U.S.A. by an invitation of Vicepresident Dan Quale. Probably I would never have sent my application to that Space Camp without the 1985 GIOTTO competition. But also in my studies of science at the University 1 often profited by the wakened sense in taking contact to other scientists or organisations. And finally I would never had known the other 18 winners, in order to found the E.S.T.A. (European Space Technology Association).
319
After the GIOTTO competition i continued in working on Astronomy, ! have become a real specialist in comets. At the moment 1 work in the group RCP 639 for the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in a project about photographing comets. Frank Brudieux (France, July 4. 1990)
Actually 1 work in the fields of microelectronlcs and my hobby is still Astronomy, but in Belgium we have not many groups interested in Astronomy. The experiences and contacts that I could make thanks to the GIOTTO competition are still useful.
Bernard (Belglque,
Steenis July 5.
i am still studying comets and I have designed a bigger astronomical telescope because 1 was really inspired by the 1985 GIOTTO competition I could take some magnificent pictures of the comet AUSTIN but the actually passing comet LEVY is not good for taking pictures because of the bad meteorigical conditions.. I now make part of an European group Which is observing obscurations o f asteroids (E.A.O.N.) to determine the diameter of these objects.
Christophe
Marlot
(France, July Last but not least our contribution to the 41. Congress of the I.A.F. is a result of the 1985 GIOTTO competition and its positive influence on us. Man f r e d H e u b e r g e r (Switzerland, July 3.
1990)
1990)
5. 1990)
320
41st IAF Congress
The contest helped interest me in astrophysics. I am not actually doing astrophysics now; I work on helicopters at the moment. But when I was looking f o r universities, I very nearly did astrophysics, I think it was a great help although getting to me all the people and to see French Guyana
S t u a r t Combes (England, July 5.
J~irgen Beier (Germany, July 1990)
I am still in contact with people from the IAF. So I am always well informed about Congresses of the IAF. Occasionally I make some observations in astronomy. At the moment I am studying economics at the university in Paris. Alexandre Szames (France, July 5. 1990)
The competition motivated me for continuing in my studies of science. Actually I am studying chemistry at a school "for engineers. My direct line to the space technology is by the study of composit materials. During two years 1 was astronomical guide in a local observatory. I have tried to get a place for working on aeronautics, but I had not enough experience in that field. Finally the general influence by the competition was positive, also for my studies and for my personal maturity. Guenaelle Luec (France, July 5.
At the moment I work on evolution research in IBM Munich and I still have a lot of contacts with the ESA and the CNES. The GIO'Iq'O competition was only one of me very diverse occupations, so I actually stopped my work in astronomy.
1990)
5.
1990)
41st IAF Congress
6. T h e E u r o o e a n Association ;
Snace
Technolo~v
On July 4. 1985, our last day in French Guyana, we (the prize-winners) decided to stay in contact. So we did during fife years without the background of a proper organization; and that is, together with the occupation for our studies and the relatively big distances between us, the probable reason why our enthusiasm for our group decreased a little bit. To prevent this decay, we decided finally to found an association called E.S.T.A. with the following aims :
Articles of the Euror~ean Association ;
Soace
Name. seat Technology
lhe
and n u r n o s e A~,melalion
of
Technolo~,v
Eurooean
Saagf
The European Space Technology Association (E.S.T.A.) is an association corresponding to the meaning of article 60 of the Swiss civil law and has its seat in Fribourg, Switzerland. The original version of these articles is in German. The purpose of the E.S.T.A. is : a.)
b.) c.) d.)
7,
Conclusions
321
:
The contribution of the 1985 GIOTTO competition to the individual former prize-winners and to their space education is difficult to distinguish from their beforehand interests in space research. So the question what was first, the interest in space or the participation on the GIOTTO competition, can only be answered by : it is a line of facts that lean to a future space scientist or astronaut. The GIOTTO competition was one of these facts in our lifes; surely one of the most important ones. It will leave an influence on us that will remain, even when we do not become space travellers. Also, we have learned a lot about ourselves and the problems in the dynamics and organization of an international group like E.S.T.A. One of the most important points is the fact that we met space scientists of different fields thanks to the GIOTTO competition. We have got an impression of the dimensions of real space projects and we had the possibility to discuss our projects with persons knowing the business. A lot of personal contacts could be made this way and we have got a useful peace of (space-) education. If once one of us 19 winners will fly to Mars, it is a consequence of the 1985 GIOTTO competition.
cultivation of friendship between space interested people on international terms. promotion of scientific and cultural exchange of ideas. support of chosen (space-) projects of members. outward representation of the members.
The E.S.T.A. has no lucrative aim; E.S.T.A. is politically and confessionally neutral.
Fribourg, July 2. 1990
8.
Acknowledgments
Finally we want to thank fantastic competition to the such competitions will be the urgently needed space generations.
:
once again for that organizers and hope repeated to promote education of future
0094-5765/91 $3.00 + 0.00
PergamemPress pie
Printed in Great Britain
DO CONTESTS CONTRIBUTE TO SPACE EDUCATION?
This paper resumes the effect of this competition for the former winners who were invited to visit the launch-site in Kourou, French Guyana, and to
the lift-off of ARIANE VI4 with the Giotto spacecraft payload on 2.July 1985. s¢¢
Author:
After a selection in the different member states,
Manfred Heuberger, Haslerastrasse 25, C H - 3186 Dtidingen, Switzerland.
Coauthor:Christophe Perier, Les foug~res de la Florida C h e m i n des A m o u r e u x , F - 83990 Saint-Tropez France
0. A B S T R A C T
:
In 1985 ESA and CNES organized an international youth competition on the occasion of the launch of the Giotto spacecraft by ARIANE V14. A group of 19 winners were invited to see the launch site and French Guyana. What was the contr.ibution of this GIOTTO competition to the winners and their space education? This is a report of the competition and what the former winners think about it fife years later.
19 students were determined to participate at the meeting in Kourou. This first assembly was the origin of the E.S.T.A. (European Space Technology Association) as we use to call our group. In a first phase after the meeting in Kourou, we exchanged information about our individual space projects on epistolary way. A second meeting was hold in 1986 in Paris during the encounter of the Giotto spacecraft with Halleys comet. In the meantime we made progress in our studies (physics, mathematics, programming ...) and the interest of information exchange embracing for example political events and opinions or experimental results in physics increased as well as our international friendship. The third meeting took place in Switzerland last year, and we decided to organize an annual meeting in one of the member countries with the
goal to become acquainted with the different European cultures and to promote the international cooperation in science and space interests.
2.
1. I N T R O D U C T I O N One of the cooperation mission in impulse for international
;
successful highlights for international in space was the European GIOTTO 1985186. This opportunity was the CNES and ESA Paris to organize an competition in spring 1985 for the
The
Giotto.comnetition
Many years of European cooperation and hard work culminated in the succsessful launch in the jungle of French Guyana. But for a group of 19 young people, observing this spectacle near the launch-pad, it was more than this:
youth in the respective member states. The goal of this competition was to activate the interest of young Europeans in space.
Copyright ~:) 1990 by ESTA. Publishcd by the lntcrnallonal Aslronautical Fcdcralion. with
315
pcrmisslon.
316
41st IAF co,s,,,,
Their presence in Kourou on 2.July 1985 was the first prize of the International Giotto competition. The Giotto competition was organized by the ESA/CNES to emphasize and also promote the interest of young Europeans in space techniques and international space-projects like "GIOTTO". So the competitions commission was to develop a realistic and original space mission to Halley's comet using the available know-how and conventional space techniques. The direct realization of the competition in each member state of the European Space Agency and the task to determine the national winner was transferred to local organisations. The first prize winners of each nation finally were invited to visit French Guyana and ESAs launch facilities. The space projects presented by the winners covered a wide range of different space topics like life science, orbit computing, tracking of Halley's comet, flight to Mars or an astrometric spacecraft.
3,
The
winners:
The winners of the 1985 GIOTTO competition came from 10 different nations. Ten winners were invited by the ESA, 8 winners by the CNES, and 1 winner by the IAF. Maybe some 80% of the group were already interested in space before the competition. One of their most important hobbies was Astronomy. In 1985, about 50% of us intended or were about to begin a study of either physics or mathematics at the university. The following list contains all 19 winners that were invited to French Guyana: .
winners
by the ESAI
Jtirgen Beier, W . G e r m a n y S t e p h a n Berglund, Sweden Stewart Combes, England Joaquin Fort Viader, Spain Aaron Golden, Ireland Manfred Heuberger, Switzerland C h r i s t o p h e Perier, France Anton Sorensen, D e n m a r k B e r n a r d Steenis, B e l g i q u e J e r o e n Stolk, N e t h e r l a n d •
winners by the ONES ; F r a n k Brudieux, F r a n c e Esaie Dorcent, G u y a n e Gu~naelle Luec, France C h r i s t o p h e Marlot, France Philippe Rousselot, F r a n c e Gilles et Pascal Bequet, France Faical G a r g o u r i , France
•
winner by the I A F Alexandre
Szames,
: France
41st lAP COngeus 4.
Personal
exoeriences
on
the
trip to
The following two reports shall give an idea of the personal experiences of two group members in French Guyana. We all had similar positive impressions of the launch, the c o r d i a l demonstration of the launch site, and last but not least of the country and its habitants.
ARIANE V14 experience
A once in a lifetime
"After four flights in a day transformed by" time zones into 28 of the most interesting hours of my life, I for once was glad of the mere four hours of sleep we were granted. On the day of the launch, however, I had no difficulty in keeping my eyes open. It was an experience that will probably never be repeated in my life. The following day's trip around the launch site was both interesting and informative and the small memento from the r o c k e t itself most appreciated. Lunch, and the subsequent excursions on the river completed a thoroughly enjoyable day. My thanks go to the "organizers, Berit, Guy and Jacqueline whose efforts made the whole holiday thoroughly worthwhile. Without them it would not have been the same. Many thanks for an enjoyable trip."
Stuart Combes (England, Feb.2.1986)
317
SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO THE TRIP : "The Giotto launch became even more interesting than ! expected it to be. Additional information about the Giotto mission kindly supplied to us was also worthy. We were given some reading material about comet Halley (19820 and the Giotto spacecraft which proved useful. ! was delighted to meet Prof. Last, General Director of the European Space Agency as well as several other bright scientists in the buffet lunch hold on July 2nd. in Kourou. Visiting such a distant area as Guyana is always impressive to a European and the native plants and animals as well as the customs and the cities and villages were of high interest, Finally, our three guides and most of other Giotto Competition prizewinners seemed to have a relatively high astronomical level," PERSONAL APPROACH TO THE TRIP : "Traveling arrangements by the esa were perfect in all senses. Our guides Miss Friberg, Mrs. Serra and Mr. Pignolet proved to be excellent. Other prizewinners were very nice and they all seemed to have great interest for the trip. We have all surprisingly become very good friends in a f e w days in spite of the different places from where we come and the short time we have been in personal contact .... ... To sum it up I would say that i have enjoyed the prize and am extremely grateful to the European Space Agency as well as to the Spanish COMISION NACiONAL DE LA INVESTIGACION DEL ESPACIO and wish 1 could somehow manage to do something in return in the future." Fort Viader (Spain, Nov. 21. 1985)
Joaquin
318
41st IAF Con&resa
5, C o n t r i b u t i o n s of t h e GIOTTO ~ o n t e s t to the f o r m e r w i n n e r s fi f e years later: The following statements report the competitions contribution to each former winner after fife years. Though the individual development after the competition was rather different, one can see some significant parallels. Often the competition was an impulse to continue in working on space research in any
Enfin, ce concours nous a permis de crier I'ESTA, une association d l'#chelle europ#enne qui vise d concrltiser et d#velopper les amities et les collaborations. En conclusion je dirais qu'un concours du type GIOTTO 1985 est tr~s b#n#fique au d~veloppement des gagnants. Je n'affirmerai pas que les effets du concours sont identiques sur chaque membres gagnants, mais globalement ils sont plut6t positifs, aux rues des cursus des membres de FESTA. "
way:
Contributions du CONCOURS GIOTTO 1985 mon ~volution personelle dans les domaines de l'astronomie et de l'espace: " Ma passion pour la science et notamment l'astronomie, m'a permis de continuer rues #tudes en math#matiques. La math#matique est sans doute un domaine de la science plus #loign# de l'astronomie que la physique, mais cela dit je continue d #xercer l'astronomie par l'interm4diaire d'une association d'astronomes amateurs. C' est ainsi que nous disposons d'un gros t#lescope de Schmitt de 500ram (10 ° de champ) install# sous une coupole, qui nous peDnet de r#aliser des cliches photographiques de com~tes et autres objets rapides (comme les ast#roides). Nous travaillons en collaboration avec le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) par l'interm~diaire de la RCP. 639. Le concours GIOTTO m'a done permis de concr#tiser rna passion en conaissant des professionnels de l'astronomie qui m'ont aid# dons mon travail. Sur un plan plus humain il m'a permis de conna[tre des #tudiants de l'Europe enti~re, de voyager, de r~ver d une plus grande unit# de la population europ#enne.
Christophe Perier (France, June 22. 1990)
41at IAF Con&rus C o n t r i b u t i o n s of the to my f u r t h e r llfe :
GIOTTO
eomnetition
" The European GIOTTO competition and the fact that 1 participated to it was a real milestone in my life. Surely, I was interested in space before, but this was the first confirmation to me that it could be more than a mere interest, say h o b b y . The competition opened doors to important personalities in the fields of space research and industry. And, what is still more important to me, it summoned up my courage to work on other space projects. So a friend and i participated at another competition (SCHWEIZER JUGEND FORSCHT) on 1986/87 with a space project and a C.A.D.program for PC, And again we met important scientists and politicians... Parts of our work were announced for patent and we had the possibility to meet industrial managers and to learn a lot. In August 1990 I am invited to represent Switzerland at the first International Space Camp in Alabama U.S.A. by an invitation of Vicepresident Dan Quale. Probably I would never have sent my application to that Space Camp without the 1985 GIOTTO competition. But also in my studies of science at the University 1 often profited by the wakened sense in taking contact to other scientists or organisations. And finally I would never had known the other 18 winners, in order to found the E.S.T.A. (European Space Technology Association).
319
After the GIOTTO competition i continued in working on Astronomy, ! have become a real specialist in comets. At the moment 1 work in the group RCP 639 for the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in a project about photographing comets. Frank Brudieux (France, July 4. 1990)
Actually 1 work in the fields of microelectronlcs and my hobby is still Astronomy, but in Belgium we have not many groups interested in Astronomy. The experiences and contacts that I could make thanks to the GIOTTO competition are still useful.
Bernard (Belglque,
Steenis July 5.
i am still studying comets and I have designed a bigger astronomical telescope because 1 was really inspired by the 1985 GIOTTO competition I could take some magnificent pictures of the comet AUSTIN but the actually passing comet LEVY is not good for taking pictures because of the bad meteorigical conditions.. I now make part of an European group Which is observing obscurations o f asteroids (E.A.O.N.) to determine the diameter of these objects.
Christophe
Marlot
(France, July Last but not least our contribution to the 41. Congress of the I.A.F. is a result of the 1985 GIOTTO competition and its positive influence on us. Man f r e d H e u b e r g e r (Switzerland, July 3.
1990)
1990)
5. 1990)
320
41st IAF Congress
The contest helped interest me in astrophysics. I am not actually doing astrophysics now; I work on helicopters at the moment. But when I was looking f o r universities, I very nearly did astrophysics, I think it was a great help although getting to me all the people and to see French Guyana
S t u a r t Combes (England, July 5.
J~irgen Beier (Germany, July 1990)
I am still in contact with people from the IAF. So I am always well informed about Congresses of the IAF. Occasionally I make some observations in astronomy. At the moment I am studying economics at the university in Paris. Alexandre Szames (France, July 5. 1990)
The competition motivated me for continuing in my studies of science. Actually I am studying chemistry at a school "for engineers. My direct line to the space technology is by the study of composit materials. During two years 1 was astronomical guide in a local observatory. I have tried to get a place for working on aeronautics, but I had not enough experience in that field. Finally the general influence by the competition was positive, also for my studies and for my personal maturity. Guenaelle Luec (France, July 5.
At the moment I work on evolution research in IBM Munich and I still have a lot of contacts with the ESA and the CNES. The GIO'Iq'O competition was only one of me very diverse occupations, so I actually stopped my work in astronomy.
1990)
5.
1990)
41st IAF Congress
6. T h e E u r o o e a n Association ;
Snace
Technolo~v
On July 4. 1985, our last day in French Guyana, we (the prize-winners) decided to stay in contact. So we did during fife years without the background of a proper organization; and that is, together with the occupation for our studies and the relatively big distances between us, the probable reason why our enthusiasm for our group decreased a little bit. To prevent this decay, we decided finally to found an association called E.S.T.A. with the following aims :
Articles of the Euror~ean Association ;
Soace
Name. seat Technology
lhe
and n u r n o s e A~,melalion
of
Technolo~,v
Eurooean
Saagf
The European Space Technology Association (E.S.T.A.) is an association corresponding to the meaning of article 60 of the Swiss civil law and has its seat in Fribourg, Switzerland. The original version of these articles is in German. The purpose of the E.S.T.A. is : a.)
b.) c.) d.)
7,
Conclusions
321
:
The contribution of the 1985 GIOTTO competition to the individual former prize-winners and to their space education is difficult to distinguish from their beforehand interests in space research. So the question what was first, the interest in space or the participation on the GIOTTO competition, can only be answered by : it is a line of facts that lean to a future space scientist or astronaut. The GIOTTO competition was one of these facts in our lifes; surely one of the most important ones. It will leave an influence on us that will remain, even when we do not become space travellers. Also, we have learned a lot about ourselves and the problems in the dynamics and organization of an international group like E.S.T.A. One of the most important points is the fact that we met space scientists of different fields thanks to the GIOTTO competition. We have got an impression of the dimensions of real space projects and we had the possibility to discuss our projects with persons knowing the business. A lot of personal contacts could be made this way and we have got a useful peace of (space-) education. If once one of us 19 winners will fly to Mars, it is a consequence of the 1985 GIOTTO competition.
cultivation of friendship between space interested people on international terms. promotion of scientific and cultural exchange of ideas. support of chosen (space-) projects of members. outward representation of the members.
The E.S.T.A. has no lucrative aim; E.S.T.A. is politically and confessionally neutral.
Fribourg, July 2. 1990
8.
Acknowledgments
Finally we want to thank fantastic competition to the such competitions will be the urgently needed space generations.
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once again for that organizers and hope repeated to promote education of future