Dr. Loukas Vlachos, professor at the Astrophysics department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki published an article that describes our collaboration and the outcome of our project, in the Greek newspaper "TO VIMA". The article was posted on Sunday May 28th 2023.
There are no words to express our gratitude to Dr. Vlachos and how happy we feel about this initiative. Patience, persistence and passion for what a person is working on always pays off and this is probably one of the moral lessons our students have learned. Our wish is for them to continue travelling the path of knowledge without any fear or prejudice for the unknown.
In the picture below is the article as it has been written in the Greek language and following to that is the translation in English.
English Translation
SPACE TRAVEL IN SCHOOLS
by Dr. Loukas Vlachos
At the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), the national office of Space Education (ESERO, https://esero.gr/) was recently created. The purpose of the office is (a) To promote interdisciplinary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education, (b) To dispel the misconception that science is only for the few and (c) To highlight the importance of space in children who will live in another world, very different from ours.
I recently asked the ESERO office of AUTH to help the teachers and a group of eleven students of the 1st Gymnasio of Polichni, Thessaloniki in their effort to participate in a school cooperation program (eTwinning). The program is connected to the exploration of space and more specifically our return to the Moon and the creation of a lunar base with the ultimate goal of inhabiting the planet Mars as well. Part of the program is their participation in the competition organized by the European Space Commission (ESA) with the Airbus Foundation and Autodesk, entitled "Moon Camp Challenge" (https://mooncampchallenge.org/).
In the context of this program, students are asked to study topics related to the selection of an area on the Moon for the creation of the base, the materials and method of its construction, the provision of water and oxygen, the provision of energy reserves for operational needs and covering the nutritional, physical and mental needs initially of the astronauts and future residents. The group of students of the 1st Gymnasio of Polichni, Thessaloniki completed their proposal recently and submitted it to the competent ESA committee. They worked closely in all steps with the students of a high school in Croatia. They created a website to record the progress of their study and were also in constant communication with me. The opportunity was thus given to discuss the history of space missions and the reasons we want to return to the moon and create permanent bases to stay there. At the same time, the students of each of the two partner schools designed with the tools provided by ESA a three-dimensional model for the base on the moon. At the same time, in our last meeting, and with the help of my colleague Dr. Manolis Georgoulis, Director of Research at the Astronomy and Applied Mathematics Research Center, at the Academy of Athens, we also discussed with them how someone can work professionally with space missions and what new professions are created with the new great leap of humanity towards the creation of space colonies.
The last stage of the work was completed with the creation of two infographics, which were created by two transnational groups of students whose thematic axes were the history of space exploration and space law (legislation, agreements).
It is clear that through their collaboration to complete their proposal, the students learned a lot. I personally bow before the teachers of the 1st Gymnasio of Polichni, but also in our schools and the teachers throughout Greece who started to walk this beautiful path, putting the education of our country on another trajectory. Our schools must spread their wings and break out of stereotypes in search of new ways of creative learning and career search.
Dr. Loukas Vlachos is a physics professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
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