Tomorrow the 15th World Space Week kicks off, with many astronomy outreach events all around the world every day until Friday 10 October. The theme week was first declared by the United nations in 1999 and has since then grown into the largest public space event on Earth, with more than 1,400 events in 80 countries worldwide. Universe Awareness is a global partner of World Space Week since 2011. This year’s theme is ‘Space: Guiding Your Way’, focusing on the importance of navigation satellites. You can participate by selecting one of the many events here. UNAWE organises an activity as well, on Saturday 4 October at the Copernicus Observatory near Haarlem, The Netherlands.
This year’s dates commemorate the launch of Sputnik I on 4 October 1957, and the entering into force of the UN Outer Space Treaty on 10 October 1967. The objective of World Space Week as declared in 1999 is to “increase awareness among decision makers and civil society of the benefits of the peaceful uses of space science and technology for sustainable development”. It is to be a “yearly celebration at the international level of the contribution that space science and technology can make to the betterment of the human condition”.
Every year World Space Week has a different theme, highlighting a specific angle of space science. With its newest theme, World Space Week focusses on how GPS has changed the way in which we navigate our planet. GPS helps us locate planes, ships, cars, trains and people, but also improve agriculture and disaster management. During this decade we see new additions to the American GPS system, with European Galileo, Russian Glonass and Chinese Beidou satellite systems entering into service. This development will rapidly increase the accuracy and scope of positioning and timing applications over the next years. With this theme, World Space Week hopes to improve knowledge of this clear benefit of space technology for the betterment of humankind.
World Space Week events are held all over the world, in schools, universities, science centers, planetariums, museums, companies and many other places. These are organized by local volunteers, supported by a large network of global, national and local coordinators. Anyone is free to organize a World Space Week event and add it to the calendar. You can see the full calendar of planned events here or here.
Share:
