The European Commission has launched a European-wide drawing competition for children aged 9-11. The child submitting the winning entry from each European country will have one of the Galileo satellites named after them. Galileo is the European Union’s global satellite navigation system. Data from space will allow satnavs and smart phones to calculate your position any where on Earth.
The first two Galileo satellites are scheduled for launch on 20 October and are named Natalia and Thijs after the children winning the competitions in Bulgaria and Belgium. Competitions have already taken place in these countries and the competition is now open for the rest of Europe.
Entries for the UK drawing competition must be submitted on-line by 15 November at the competition website. The European Commission has also produced a lesson plan for teachers so that they can use the competition as a basis to teach their classes about space and space technology.
The European Space Education Resource Office also has significant teacher resources using space to help deliver the curriculum.
The payloads for the Galileo satellites to be launched next month were built in the UK by Astrium Ltd. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd won a major contract last year to build the payloads for the next batch of 14 Galileo satellites.
For more information on Galileo please visit our ‘Missions’ section and the ESA website.