The team Galactic Angels, comprising 17-year-old Athena Vourgos and 18-year-old Giorgio Daniil Ourris, will represent Cyprus end of June in the international competition of space defence, DefInSpace, which is organised by the French Space Command (CDE).
This is the first time that DefInSpace goes international. It came to Cyprus as well, through the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation (CSEO) as one of a handful of countries that have been selected to run this high-profile competition.
The Cypriot team was selected during the local competition that took place beginning of June in Nicosia.
The winning team will represent Cyprus in the semifinal in Paris on the 28th of June and if they proceed, they can compete in the finals the same day.
This year’s competition is related to Space Traffic Management. Space Traffic Management (STM) encompasses the means and the rules to access, conduct activities in, and return from outer space safely, sustainably and securely.
Space based applications such as communications, navigation and earth observations all affect Europe’s economies and societies. For example, wildfires in the summer displace a huge number of people every year and have a drastic impact on a regional and national economic output. An effective and responsive STM is essential to maintain space-based applications that improve all our daily lives such as communications, navigation and weather forecasting.
Participants worked on two challenges related to Space Traffic Management, individually or in teams, and delivered an analysis and an action plan.
After 24 hours, a jury comprised of judges with various backgrounds (such as academia, industry and armed forces) evaluated each entry and chose the team, Galactic Angels, that will represent Cyprus in the international semi-finals and eventually finals, in Paris.
The International Final takes place on 28 June in Paris, and the global winning team will have the opportunity to attend the launch of a rocket and its satellites at the European Space Agency’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guyana.
Furthermore, the participants will receive mentoring on space engineering and space matters. They will also be provided with networking opportunities and possibly even career opportunities.
DefInSpace is part of CSEO’s Innovation and Start-up program – creating innovative solutions to challenges in space exploration and research and progressing them into commercial entities, as part of CSEO’s space cluster, stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship.
Source: Cyprus News Agency