The Second Euro-Latin American Space Days

V. Hood

International Affairs, ESA ,Paris

In November 1991, ESA and the Brazilian Space Agency (INPE) organised a 'Euro-Latin American Space Days' conference, which was intended to be a one-off event to encourage the development of trans-Atlantic relations in the area of space technology and its applications. That first meeting proved to be such a great success - despite some trepidations beforehand that the delights of the venue, Rio de Janeiro, might prove more enticing than space topics - that the Argentinian Delegation invited ESA to hold a Second Euro-Latin American Space Days in Buenos Aires, in May (from 9th to 13th) this year.

European politicians, scientists, engineers, astronauts, industrialists and students rubbed shoulders with their counter parts from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela at this year's Euro-Latin American Space Days. They were organised by ESA and the Argentinian National Space Agency (CONAE), with co-sponsorship from ASI (Italy), CDTI (Spain), CNES (France) and DLR/DARA (Germany). The conference programme covered manned space activities, remote-sensing applications, space science, telecommunications, tele-education, space technology, industrial activities and space teaching in schools.

With the aim of encouraging young people to take an interest in the world of space activities, ESA, CONAE and EURISY organised a competition for 15-18 year olds from Latin America and ESA's Member States, inviting them to write a short science-fiction story in not more than ten pages. Some 90 entries were received from Europe - France, Spain, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Finland - and from Latin America - Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.

Five finalists from Europe and six from Latin America were selected and invited to attend the Space Days in Buenos Aires to receive their certificates from ESA Astronaut Claude Nicollier and French Astronauts Jean-Pierre Haigneré and Claude Andrè-Deshays. The two winners, Paul Barry (Ireland) and Lucia Gagliardini (Argentina), will also be invited to attend an Ariane launch, in Kourou, French Guiana, at a later date.

Argentina's President Dr. Carlos Raoul Menem, inaugurated the conference proceedings, flanked by Dr. Conrado Varotto, President of CONAE and Mr Marius Le Fèvre, Director of ESTEC, ESA's Research and Technology Centre in The Netherlands (Fig. 1). They had earlier met the competition winners (Fig. 2) and the astronauts. Claude Nicollier presented the President with a souvenir of the occasion and gave a short speech in Spanish.

Claude Nicollier subsequently reported on his activities during the Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission, and Jean-Pierre Haigneré on his experiences of flying with the Russians.

At the end of the morning, the astronauts presented the certificates to the competition winners, before Conrado Varotto, Marius Le Févre and the Spanish Secretary of State for Defence, Mr Antonio Flos Bassols, formally opened the Exhibition (Fig. 3) accompanying the conference - the Space days were then welland truly under way!

The Space Days, once opened, assumed an inertia of their own. Daily, and sometimes even hourly changes, had to be made to the evolving programme, catering to the needs of the three-hundred attendees. The quality of the presentations was uniformly high, and new contacts were forged and old contacts renewed, especially among the industrialists. The competition winners mingled with the conference participants and, despite the language problems, became fast friends during the course of the week.

Remote-sensing applications took pride of place at this year's Space Days, with presentations on geology, natural hazards, glaciology, inter ferometry, oceanography, agriculture, forestry, land use and cartography. The Latin American countries presented their planned space programmes and aspirations. The Panel sessions on space science and space technology were also well-attended, as were the industrial sessions.

Telecommunications and tele-education were popular themes, as this is a rapidly expanding area of activities in Latin America. The Argentinian domestic satellite programme 'Nahuelsat' was highlighted as a prime example of Euro- Latin American cooperation. The spacecraft itself is being built by a European Consortium involving DASA (D), Alenia (I) and Aerospatiale (F).

A number of social activities that accompanied the Space Days provided opportunities for discussions in more relaxed surroundings and provided a further impetus for international contacts.

Figure 1. Dr. Carlos Raoul Menem, the President of Argentina, flanked by Dr. Conrado Varotto (left), President of CONAE, and Mr Marius Le Fèvre (right), Director of ESTEC

Figure 2. Some of the Competition Winners being congratulated by President Menem. From left to right: Paula Petroni (Argentina), Jonothan Grimaud (France), Nadia Marconi (Argentina), Martin Bollrover (UK), Lucia Gagliardini (Argentina), and Paul Barry (Ireland)

Figure 3. Opening of the Exhibition by, from left to right: Mr Antonio Flos Bassols, Spanish Secretary of State for Defence, Dr. Conrado Varotto, President of CONAE, and Mr Marius Le Fèvre, Director of ESTEC