In this EPEC Inspiring Outreach Story, Melissa Mirino from the Open University in the UK, tells us how she is helping to organise meetings where the public can meet planetary scientists!
Space Rendezvous Rome official logo
In February 2018, during the lunch of the first SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch, a group of space enthusiasts joined an informal meeting in Paris to talking about their passion for space and their personal experiences.
After this event the group of young scientists realised that space enthusiasts from their neighborhood were lacking opportunities to informally discuss their passion for space. This was the start of the Space Rendezvous Project which is running in many cities all over Europe. I had the amazing opportunity to be one of the founders of Space Rendezvous in Rome which is now supported by the Space Generation Advisory Council and Woman in Aerospace Europe.
Our rendezvous in Rome are providing an opportunity for undergraduates, Ph.D. students, and space enthusiasts without any limit of age or expertise, to discuss about topics and news related with the Space sector and Planetary Science.
So those who are interested in space exploration can be inspired from people already involved in the space research and possibly follow their examples in the future. Professionals have the opportunity to share their work and their knowledge with the attendees. In this context, professionals can also get fresh, innovative and sometimes crazy ideas for future research projects or developments
In May 2019, we decided to make our rendezvous a bit different, and dedicated it to Space Art. We thought about the best way to inspire the younger generation to be more involved in our work, and decided to let them be the main characters of the art competition. We asked them to choose a title and give an explanation about what inspired them about Space. As you can see from the examples below, the results were amazing:
To the ‘Universe and Beyond’ by XyLem Manija Gond
Artist: XyLem Manija Gonda. School: International Migrants School. Art Title: To the Universe and Beyond
When I look in the sky, I see the clouds, the moon, and the charms of the sky. But I always wonder what is on the other side of the universe, what kind of living things are there, and how do they survive. My drawing represents how thankful I am to the astronauts who live, study and search in space. They help in discovering things about the world and travel for a year before returning to the planet. They are ready to be separated from their families for their profession. One more thing I can add is that technology helps to get information inside and outside our world. See the background, it means to me that even though there was a dark side there will always be a light that makes our universe shine and that lifewill go on. For me, as I discover many things in life, science INSPIRES me always.
‘Out of the world paradise’ by Jan Keen Charry Bulaclac
Artist: Jan Keen Charry Bulaclac. School: International Migrants School. Art Title: Out of the world paradise. Imagine yourself on an island lying on a sun lounger, drinking coconut juice, feeling the warmth of the sun, hearing the crashing of waves and just relaxing in the place you called paradise.But the thing that you don’t know is that outside the world there is a paradise. Planets rotating around the boiling hot sun, seas of stars, debris swirling around in space, meteors and comets or what we call shooting stars, and the universe. The real message of this painting is to show you the vast universe, its beauty, bare and untouched.
‘Moon’s Rose’ by Melissa Mirino
Artwork submission example. Author: Melissa Mirino.
Title: Moon’s Rose.
Artist Statement of Originality: “Moon Rose” has been realized using watercolors and a black pen to emphasize the borders of the objects. Size (20×26 cm). The artwork was inspired by the “Little prince” kid story book. The kid on the right of the image represent a personal interpretation of the Little prince and his rose. The Little prince is donating the Rose to the Moon to bring life on the dark side of the “empty” celestial body. Thanks to this gift all the figures in the artwork (stars and the Moon) become alive. For this reason the moon in the center of the image has lines indicating a possible eye and a possible mouth to recall the classic Moon design that we associate with the celestial body when we were kids. The stars also are animated using lines face-similar.
This artwork was inspired by a recent experiment realized by the Chinese Space Agency which sent recently a lander on the dark-side of the Moon. On board of the Chang’e-4 lander, there was a biological experiment to grow some cotton seeds and other plants. The plants did not survive to the extreme environment but other biological missions are coming soon! The idea to bring life on other planets of satellite is really inspiring to me and I really hope to see some of these experiments succeed
‘Universe within my world’ by Lysandra Mae Castillo
Artist: Lysandra Mae Castillo. School: International Migrants School. Art Title: Universe within my world
In my world that’s how I see the universe. How beautiful creation is. See me cry as I drown in the fantasy I’ve always wanted to happen. See the girl in the middle who always thought of the shooting stars I see in the sky. See me wonder as I see the stars sparkle near me. What if I could touch them how would it feel, because beyond that scientific explanation, I know there’s more. I imagined that I’m that girl, the Filipino girl that is one of the voyagers, who loves to explore, who never loses wonder, who’s always curious, who’s imagination has no limitation. I am that girl, who imagined the universe in my world.
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By organising these meetings I have learned a lot: how to manage a meeting, and cooperate within an international team. Other members of my group are from all over Europe and around the world, so we have various backgrounds and diverse work habits. I have also had a valuable lesson in science communication, both in the real and virtual world as we are promoting our actions on social media. We are also having fun organising games and deciding what the event topic will be each month. It is challenging, but one of the rewards is the great chance to network with others interested in space around Rome area. I would therefore recommend young professionals to find out if Space Rendezvous is happening in their city, and if not to take the initiative and become one of the founders in their area. From personal experience I can assure you that it will be very rewarding and super fun.
If you find yourself in Rome, join our meetings for an interesting chat and a good pizza! Visit our official facebook page @Spacerendezvousrome and discover the upcoming topic of the month. New volunteers and sponsors who would like to support our activities are welcome! So if you are interested please contact me at: melissa.mirino@community.isunet.edu. All participant cities host their Space Rendezvous on the final Thursdays of each month.
Do you like this story and want more? Browse our archive of EPEC Inspiring Stories and get inspired!
Europlanet 2024 RI has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149.
Europlanet AISBL (Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif – 0800.634.634) is hosted by the Department of Planetary Atmospheres of the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), Avenue Circulaire 3, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium.
