Student wins Sentinel-2 drawing competition
In March, ESA’s centre for Earth observation, ESRIN, in Italy opened its doors to children to learn more about European space research. A drawing and slogan competition about the new ‘colour vision’ satellite, Sentinel-2A, was one of the many activities on offer during the event.
Children entering the competition were asked to make a drawing of the Sentinel-2 satellite and write a slogan that captured the essence of the mission.
More than 500 children submitted their artwork to the competition – making the judges’ decision a difficult one.
After much deliberation, ESA is happy to announce that the winner is Flavio Sabattini who attends the A.M. Lupacchino school in Frascati, Italy. His picture included the slogan: “All safe with Sentinel-2” – reflecting the mission’s role in monitoring our environment and ensuring security.
Sentinel-2 is a constellation of two satellites – the first, Sentinel-2A, launched just last week. This mission carries a high-resolution optical instrument that will gather some of the best global images ever delivered from space of our land and vegetation for Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring programme.
This information will mainly be used for agricultural and forestry practices, as well as help to manage food security, monitor pollution in lakes and coastal waters, and contribute to more rapid disaster mapping.
The satellite has already delivered its first images of Earth, offering a glimpse of the ‘colour vision’ that it will provide once operational in about three months’ time.
This year’s Open Day event at ESRIN attracted children and teachers from 40 schools of the Rome area. As well as the competition, the children were treated to interactive 3D animations and images of Earth and had the opportunity to meet ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli.
