The WSW is the largest New Space event in Finland and other Nordic and Baltic countries bringing together space technology specialists, scientists, and students to discuss current topics in a rapidly developing space field.
One of the Winter Satellite Workshop emphasis areas this year was space education. The conference had two sessions on education and several sessions on educational space missions. Unite! Space Tech project brought to Finland five universities and two companies belonging to the project consortium, to present their results and discuss project developments. During the dense program, many presentations were given by Unite! members. The project had also meetings, lunch gatherings, a project dinner and an excursion to Aalto facilities.
“Outreach during the event brought also many new candidates to our space education network. We decided that next year, already a much larger delegation from Unite! universities will be invited and additional program for students is arranged. Overall, the event was a success and the need for collaboration between Unite! universities in the field of space education is apparent”
Project members include six Unite! universities (Aalto University, Universitaire de Grenoble, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Politecnico di Torino, Universidade de Lisboa, Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech), two other universities (University of Tartu, Luleå University of Technology) and two companies (Arctic Astronautics Ltd., SpaceMorionery s.r.l).
Building strong and lasting collaboration
”The Space Tech project was born from a group of academic institutions across Europe, all with many years of experience in teaching and developing small satellites. The main goal that the partners have in mind is to establish strong and lasting cooperation in the field of small satellite economics, initially between the partners but subsequently extended to a growing audience”,
In the Piedmont area where Politecnico di Torino is situated, operate many high-level companies in the space economy and a growing number of SMEs. As a result, there is a well-established requirement for training the new generation of space engineers and technicians and as a result a wide range of courses are offered in different areas of space engineering. This is being implemented both in the Politecnico di Torino and in other training institutions in the same area, recently also in some high schools which are starting training courses in the space sector.
The Space Tech team will work together to develop shared seminars towards collective course activities, create a platform for shared hybrid teaching, monitor learning experiences of students and develop assessment strategies and inclusion of hands-on elements to hybrid teaching. The team will also start planning for a European Space Summer School.