SpaceTweetup with ESA Mars500 participants
Have you been following the Mars500 adventure on Twitter? Now is your chance to put your questions to ESA participants Diego Urbina and Romain Charles in person.
ESA is inviting 20 Twitter followers of the Mars500 mission to a #SpaceTweetup in Rome, Italy, 6 December 2011. The purpose is to invite people who have followed the Mars500 mission throughout its 520 days to have the chance to meet @diegou and @Romain_Charles in person and ask the questions they've waited nearly two years to ask!
Mars500, the first full-length, high-fidelity simulation of a human mission to our neighbouring planet, ended on 4 November 2011, after a record 520 days. Since then the crew have been undergoing physical and psychological tests. With their quarantine period now over, the Mars500 SpaceTweetup has been organised as part of the Mars500 'post-flight' tour.
In his diary entry on the anniversary of one year in orbit, Diego expressed his thanks to “the folks on twitter that keep us company from far away during tough times, 140 characters at a time”.
The Tweetup is open to those who followed the Mars500 mission closely via Twitter. Diego Urbina tweeted throughout the mission as @diegou in English, Italian and Spanish and since 'landing' has been joined by @Romain_Charles, tweeting in both English and French. Together they also produced a regular diary published on the ESA Portal as well as highly popular video diaries on YouTube.
The Mars500 SpaceTweetup will take place in Rome, from 09:00 to approximately 16:00. As part of the day's activities, Spacetweeps will have the option to visit ESA's Earth Observation Centre in Frascati for a tour.
Free broadband WiFi access and light refreshments will be available.
How to register
Registration is now open for the Mars500 SpaceTweetup in Rome, 6 December.
The Mars500 SpaceTweetup is open to followers of @diegou, @Romain_Charles and the main ESA accounts.
Registration closes on 21 November at 12:00 CET. The number of participants is limited to 20. Additional registrants will be placed on a waiting list. Registration is for one person only and is non-transferable. Please do not submit multiple applications.
Please note that ESA will not cover travel, accommodation or food expenses. All registrants must be at least 18 years old. The Tweetup will be held mainly in English but questions and tweets will be welcome in any language. The Tweetup will take place from 09:00 to approximately 16:00 CET, in central Rome and include a tour of ESA's Earth Observation Centre in Frascati. Final programme details will be confirmed shortly.
The Twitter account for the Tweetup is @Spacetweetup, the hashtag is #Mars500tweetup. We'll use both to post updates and reminders about the event.
Notification of registration
Registration closes on 21 November at 12:00 CET. Once all the applications have been processed, an email with confirmation information and additional instructions will be sent to those selected and those on the waiting list.
We hope to send notifications by 24 November. Please allow us time to process all the applications, we will keep you posted of progress via Twitter @spacetweetup.
