Sentinel-1 competition: and the winner is …
In March, ESA’s centre for Earth observation, ESRIN, in Italy opened its doors to children aged 8–13 to learn more about European space research. A drawing and slogan competition about Sentinel-1 was just one of the many activities on offer during the event.
Children entering the competition were asked to make a drawing of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite and write a slogan that captured the essence of the mission.
Many of the 1300 children attending the annual Open Days took part in the competition, and judging by the quality of drawings the Sentinel-1 mission certainly captured their imagination.
After much deliberation, ESA is happy to announce that the winner of the drawing part of the competition is Rebecca Testori who attends the Sacro Cuore school in Rome and the child who submitted the best slogan is Andrea Conte from the Istituto Comprensivo “Via Ferraironi”- Iqbal Masih also in Rome.
The drawing and slogan 'Sono io la Sentinella, fate cheese per la foto piú bella!', which roughly translates as 'It’s me, Sentinel-1, say cheese!', have been printed on ESA t-shirts.
Sentinel-1 is a constellation of two satellites dedicated to providing data for Europe’s Copernicus programme.
The first satellite is ready for launch. It is planned for liftoff next year on a Soyuz rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, with its sister satellite following about 18 months later.
The mission will provide essential data to monitor the oceans and provide information about oil spills and sea ice, for example. It will also be important for the surveillance of marine transport zones. In addition, it will monitor land cover, surface deformation, ice shelves and glaciers, and will be used to support disaster monitoring and humanitarian aid.
This year’s Open Day event at ESA–ESRIN attracted children and teachers from 30 schools from the Rome area. As well as the competition, the children were treated to interactive 3D animations and images of Earth and ESA astronaut, Paolo Nespoli talked to the children about why we go to space by taking them on a guided tour through the International Space Station and showing them impressive scenes in 3D.
