ASF and SGAC co-organise a World Space Week event at the United Nations in Vienna

Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, Maryam Aljoaan, and Alex Karl from the Space Generation, as well as former SGAC-founding members Norbert Frischauf and Gernot Groehmer who both now represent ASF were present and actively involved in the event. A total of around 100 local school children were invited to the UN to participate in this year's World Space Week celebrations at the home of UN OOSA and UN COPUOS. A patch of Mars was set up near the main entrance to the UN building which also attracted several UN diplomats to stop by and take a look. The Director of UN OOSA, Ms. Mazlan Othman attended the celebration as well.

The kids could follow closely as their teachers took their first steps on Mars, after donning spacesuits and exploring the red planet while listening to explanations about life on Mars from a member of the AustroMars team. While their teaches strolled the Marsian surface the kids had the opportunity to drive a Mars rover by remote control and pick up rock and biological samples to support the EVA operations of their teachers.

A parallel lecture gave the kids insight into what a Mars mission would be like by following the first hand experience description of one of the members of the AustroMars project which was documented by many pictures that were taken during that mission. The AustroMars project brought six carefully selected Austrian astronauts to a desert in the US and simulated a 3-week stay on Mars with the Control Center in Austria sending daily mission plans to the base. It included many tests how life in a Mars habitat works and provided many lessons learned. The kids also saw the first pictures from the ASF's experimental balloon Passepartout, which rose to an altitude of 30 km just last week and took pictures from the edge of space. (See pictures on www.polares.org).

Concluding the kids visit to Mars was a gift pack containing a DVD about the Hubble mission, some posters and stickers. The kids clearly enjoyed the experience and hopefully will continue to pursue that interest now. We are certainly looking forward to welcoming them as active members to the Space Generation in about 10 years time.