World Space Week 2014: 15th Anniversary Event To Honor Satellite Contributions

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
The contribution of satellite navigation to society is serving as the theme of World Space Week 2014, the annual event where astronomy enthusiasts from across the globe pay tribute to how the international space industry has helped to make our lives better.
According to the United Nations (UN), World Space Week – which is marking its 15th anniversary this year – is “an annual global celebration of the contributions of space science and technology to humanity” which has been commemorated from October 4 through October 10 every year since 1999.
The week-long event “aims to provide unique leverage in space outreach and education; educate people around the world about the benefits that they receive from space; encourage greater use of space for sustainable economic development; demonstrate public support for space programs; excite young people about science, technology, engineering, and math; and foster international cooperation in space outreach and education,” the UN added.
The start and end dates for World Space Week were chosen to commemorate two significant events in the history of space, according to NASA History Web Curator Stephen J. Garber. On October 4, 1957, Sputnik I became the first human-made satellite to be launched into outer space, and on October 10, 1967, the UN Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies went into effect.
This year’s theme, ‘Space: Guiding Your Way,’ emphasizes how much people have come to rely on satellites in their day-to-day lives, the official World Space Week website explained. Satellite networks that provide positioning and timing-related data are an integral part of just about everyone’s lives, and this year marks the addition of European Galileo, Russian Glonass and Chinese Beidou to the global GPS system.
“With these new systems we are seeing a tremendous growth of downstream applications being developed for all imaginable professional and personal uses,” the organizers said. Navigation systems have long been used for planes, trains, ships and cars, as well as smartphones and handheld GPS systems. However, they are also used for the agricultural and finance industries, and even Hollywood uses probes to synchronize cameras, they added.
The event organizers said that there were more than 1,400 events organized in 80 countries on all continents, including Antarctica, during last year’s World Space Week, and this year’s event is expected to top that. If you’re looking for a good way to mark the occasion, AFP Relaxnews is reporting that popular ideas “include geocaching events, real-world outdoor treasure hunts using GPS-enabled devices.”
Some of the events that have been announced include a series of programs at the London Science Museum and an evening of space trivia at the Space Foundation in Denver, Colorado. In addition, Missouri’s Springfield Greene County Library District will allow individuals to participate in a Skype Q&A session with astronaut Michael Hopkins. A complete list of events is available at the World Space Week’s official website.
In addition, a new iOS video game based on the Space Racers animated public television series for preschoolers will be released on October 6 as part of World Space Week. The TV program was produced in collaboration with NASA experts, and the game was designed so kids between the ages of four and six can select from one of four characters and soar through 32 levels of space-flying action.
CNN.com’s Lauren Said-Moorhouse marked the occasion with a countdown of the nine coolest Twitter accounts for space enthusiasts to follow. Among the astronauts, vehicles and organizations featured on the list are current ISS crew members Alexander Gerst of the ESA and Reid Wiseman from NASA, the Rosetta mission’s Philae lander, space transportation company SpaceX and NASA’s Voyager probe.
Speaking of Weisman and Gerst, they will be spending part of World Space Week with the first of two scheduled spacewalks to replace a failed power regulator and relocate a failed cooling pump. The two ISS Expedition 41 crew members will exit the orbiting laboratory’s Quest airlock at approximately 8:10am Eastern on Tuesday. That spacewalk is expected to last roughly 6.5 hours, and will be followed by a second on October 15, according to NASA.
—–
FOR THE KINDLE: Space Technologies on Earth: redOrbit Press
—–