jimvolp

I wanted to present to you the four fantastic people that
during this summer have been working very hard on the SEDS
global development project. They have done an outstanding job;
much progress was made, part of which I shall present at the
SEDS International Conference (SEDSIC) in one week from now.

My gratitude goes to them and I am sure that after next week
I can also send them thanks from the entire SEDS community...

Here they come: 

[Read More]

Wasn't aware that Google had this planned,
but makes much sense given Google Earth of course. 

More info...

For a pic and spec of the sat, look here.

I never published this entry, till now...

Major update since my last postings: I have made it
to the first round of tests to fulfill my childhood goal:
to become astronaut. 

Next week I will as one of the last people (probably
because my surname starts with V) undergo what are
called "psychological tests" though they seem to be
more like general IQ and concentration tests to me.

I had to sign a secrecy paper in order to ensure all
candidates are equally prepared to the tests which
makes a lot of sense of course, but in fact a sample
test is made public. Try it, it's actually real good fun!

 

More in due time (I hope),

Jim
 

 

Today I received the email I was afraid of more than half of my life: I am no longer considered for consequent rounds of the ESA astronaut selection.

Rationally, I was of course prepared for this, but emotionally, I am, as you can imagine, quite unhappy.

I hope that one of the lessons that Prof. Randy Pausch brings forward in his famous "last lecture", namely that all brick walls are there to simply see if we are truly motivated to reach our goals, will be true. Time will tell...

Deadline to apply: 31st October 2008.

Spaceref states: "Applications are currently being

accepted for the 2009 CanSat Competition.

 

This annual competition is open to university and college students

from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe."

 

More info: http://www.cansatcompetition.com/

 

 

Why go to school if you can educate yourself? 

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm

I just downloaded myself crazy.....!

Enjoy!

Dear colleagues,

Twice a year there is a good reason to throw a space related
party all over the world: in April there is Yuri's Night and from
4th till 10th October there is the World Space Week(.org).

WSW was declared by the United Nations in 1999.  Last year,
it was celebrated in 424 events in 54 countries; and in space!
In the 2007 Annual Report, you can see who/what/where...

WSW is a fantastic global space education and outreach event.

I am responsible for Educational Relations and so I want to ask
you to help me get in contact with as many teachers as possible.
Can you send me some suggestions, please? Leave a comment...

I am looking for contacts at primary and secondary schools,
Universities, teacher associations, the right people at local/regional

or national governments, contacts at other space agencies, hobby
groups/societies/associations etc etc. Anything is welcome!

THANX!

UPDATE to this blog entry: in the mean time we have written

a special invitation to teachers in several languages. If you can

help us a) distribute this invitation (take the text under "email" in

the table) or b) get us another language: THANX! As you can

see, you will be mentioned. You can also join our Action Team

There were some difficulties with the server recently, sorry about that.

 

Hi,

I want to share all my bookmarks with you, via my del.icio.us page: http://del.icio.us/jimvolp

I started using del.icio.us because I got frustrated that when working
on different computers, you always need that one bookmark that you
just saved on your other computer.

With del.icio.us you have all your bookmarks on one (online) location,
so even when you are at friends or on travel, you can directly add URLs
you find (useful) to your bookmarks.

Hope you find some links useful / some useful links

greetings from sunny Spain,

Jim
 

I believe strongly in the importance of youth participation. In fact that is
the purpose of this blog: to increase the participation of youth in space.

There are three links I want to share with you:

1) The TakingITGlobal Guide to Action: http://www.takingitglobal.org/action/guide/ 

2) The UN ESACAP Youth Participation manual: http://www.unescap.org/esid/hds/youth/part-manual.asp 

3)  UN Volunteers, How to volunteer: http://www.unv.org/how-to-volunteer.html

If you have links of the same nature, please share them by leaving a comment.

Ad astra!

Jim

The weekly Planetary Exploration Newsletter (PEN) was set up one year ago
to provide ’news and announcements across the professional community of
planetary science and related disciplines’.

 
I just visited the site at http://www.planetarynews.org and signed up to subscribe
- you may wish to do the same.

You’ll also find a very useful listing there of upcoming meetings in the planetary
exploration field.

 

The European Space Agency is looking for a new group of astronauts.
 

This is the chance of a life time to make my aspirations that I have since
a young boy come true!
 

Today an information meeting took place where I work and  even though
the entire meeting was in Spanish which I am still in the process of mastering,
it was a great day on a journey which I hope will end in space in a number
of years to come. 
 

Wish me luck! First stop: the JAR-FCL 3 Class 2 medical certificate.

The response to the internship opportunity is pretty overwhelming.
 

Over 55 people have responded, and currently between 2 (already
confirmed) and 5 interns will be based in Madrid for the first round
which means more or less till September 2008. Multiple students
have already shown interest for after September, so it looks that in
the next half year we can get to work  and make good progress!
 

 

At the same time, we are starting to form a virtual team of people
who want to contribute but who can't physically be present in Madrid.
If you are interested joining this team, please contact me.
 

 

Last week, we had an introductory meeting to discuss the heritage of
SEDS and who founded it all: Peter Diamandis, Bob Richards and late
Todd Hawley. An inspirational presentation from Bob can be found here.
 

Next week: Thursday 22nd May we will have our first real meeting
at the LEEM.es HQ at the UPM. If you would like to join..... great!
 

More information about the progress will be added on this Blog.
 

Ad astra! 

 

 

 

 

European Satellite Navigation Competition 2008      
    
“Galileo Masters 2008“ starts. This competition is a Call for Ideas
with the aim of developing new applications in the satellite navigation field.     
      
The Galileo Masters competition presents this year a prize of 20.000 €
for the best idea. In addition it will be industrialised and supported by
the principal partners of the sector.

Deadline: 31st July 2008.

More information: www.galileo-masters.com

Congratulations to India with a successful launch.

Pradeep has a number of nice pictures of the event:

http://pradx.org/