Looking up at the night sky is ever fascinating as it shows us the clockwork of space. World Space Week (WSW) runs annually between October 4 and 10 to celebrate space education and space research around the world. WSW was set up in 1999 by the United Nations and was launched in Malta in 2016 through the national coordinator for the event.
World Space Week Malta Event (WSWME) is celebrated locally in collaboration with a number of local and European science institutions including the European Space Agency, Esplora Interactive Science Centre and the University of Malta (UM). All interested schools from Church, state and private sectors (primary to tertiary levels) across Malta and Gozo are supported to participate in the annual event, linking the curriculum to the chosen theme.
Since 2016, events organised for WSWME varied to include weekend space workshops at Esplora ranging from space crafts to hands-on sessions by astro-researchers at the University of Malta. Other events had sessions where students from different schools were coding together with teachers and parents using the AstroPi computers, which then ran successfully in May 2020 during school lockdown on the International Space Station. Another event saw a live session for primary students with Rosa Alvaroz-Warren who is presently involved in the NASA Artemis Mission to the Moon to learn about her everyday role in the job, and inspire students to take up STEM careers. Primary classes were invited to visit university space researchers and discuss space spin-offs.
Citizens could also attend an exhibit about curricular space projects held at the foyer of the Faculty of Science at the UM.
Last year, a science-teacher training session by NASA astro-engineer Aisha Bowe was possible thanks to the American Embassy in Malta. This aimed to inspire how to guide students for STEM jobs. Citizens could also attend an exhibit about curricular space projects held at the foyer of the Faculty of Science at the UM. Simultaneously, special planetarium shows were offered to schools to complement the event at Esplora.
The theme for this year was Space and Sustainability, aiming to bring awareness of space junk orbiting the Earth, and the 17 sustainable development goals that enable use of Earth’s resources and space in the best manner. Sacred Heart Senior School organised a school exhibition on this year’s theme, and San Anton School organised an astronomy night thanks to the Astronomical Society of Malta.
For more information and to participate in the annual event this month, send an e-mail to Stephanie Maggi-Pulis on wswmaltaevent@gmail.com or ‘World Space Week Malta Event’ on Facebook.
Stephanie Maggi-Pulis is national coordinator, WSW.
Sound Bites
• The newly launched James Webb Telescope aims to peer back 13.5 billion years to the early universe. Using infrared (IR) vision, it enables understanding of how galaxies assemble over billions of years and sees right through massive dust clouds, observing stars and planetary systems early formation. Besides studying our own solar system, it will inform us of the atmospheres of extrasolar planets, and maybe find building blocks of life elsewhere in the universe.
• The first woman and person of colour are going to land on the Moon thanks to NASA’s Artemis missions. They will be using innovative technologies to further discover the lunar surface. Learning about the Moon will further assist research and ways of how to send astronauts to Mars.
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/
For more science news, listen to Radio Mocha on www.fb.com/RadioMochaMalta/.
DID YOU KNOW?
• World Space Week (WSW) is the largest global event celebrating space in more than 90 countries.
• Space research improves our life as numerous innovations generated in space programmes are used in everyday life. They are called spin-offs.
• Space is completely silent as sound does not travel through.
• The entire space suit costs 12 million dollars and 70 per cent of that cost is for the backpack and control module.
• The Great Wall of China is the longest structure in the world, spanning across 21,196 km. It blends with the surrounding terrain and is not so evident from space.
For more trivia see: www.um.edu.mt/think.