The latest stop for the European Space Expo was Munich. The Bavarian region’s administrative centre is often described as a capital of the European aerospace industry. And Munich’s citizens and students certainly showed great enthusiasm for discovering EU space technology with thousands of visitors passing through the doors of the Expo last week (5-10 November 2013). The free exhibition coincided with a major meeting on space technology and business: the European Space Solutions conference.
Overlooking the vast site of Munich’s famous Oktoberfest and situated close to Bavaria Park and the Alte Kongresshalle, where the major European Space Solutions conference was held, the European Space Expo attracted the usual crowds of space enthusiasts both young and old.
The Expo spent six days in Munich in total, from 5 to 10 November, and also hosted the official reception for the European Space Solutions conference on the evening of 6 November.
Aerospace capital
The exhibition was officially opened on the morning of 5 November by Mauro Facchini from the European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry.
Bavarian MEP Bernd Posselt was proud to welcome the Expo to Munich. He said that: “Munich could be described as the EU’s capital of Space and was at the heart of Europe’s aerospace and navigation industries.”
He highlighted the excellent cooperation between European nations in space arguing that: “Europe must work together for strength and competitiveness in the sector.”
Dr. Reinhold Bunsen from DLR, the German national aeronautics and space research centre, spoke about the essential role of European programmes such as Galileo and Copernicus in tackling societal challenges such as climate change.
The importance of the Expo, the Space Solutions conference and the gala awards evening for the European Satellite Navigation Competition and Copernicus Masters – all taking place in Munich during the week – to promote space technology and applications was emphasised by Dr. Thorsten Rudolf, Managing Director of Anwendungszentrum Oberpfaffenhofen (AZO).
Finally Andreas Gundel of BavAIRia, the organisation that coordinates the Bavarian aerospace and satellite navigation industry cluster, reinforced the major contribution of the region to the overall European space effort.
Exhibition features
The free Expo exhibition has been a hit in cities across Europe with its ‘hands on’ approach to demonstrating space technologies and their benefits. And, of course, the critical role of the European Union in space and space-based technologies is highlighted with Galileo, EGNOS and the Copernicus programmes taking starring roles. All the exhibits in the Space expo in Munich were explained in both German and English.
As well as displaying a dozen exciting interactive touch screen-based exhibits that encourage visitors to discover what space brings to their daily lives, the Expo in Munich featured a comprehensive series of short presentations each day given by space experts drawn from regional industry, research and academic institutions and also the European Space Agency and the GSA.
Aimed at the general public, these short talks offered insights on space technology now and in the future in a down to Earth manner. In Munich the topics ranged from applications for monitoring air quality across Europe to what Europe is doing in the International Space Station and how satellite technology is helping improve road safety.
Next stop Lisbon!
So far the Space Expo has welcomed over 300 000 visitors through its doors.
The next port of call will be the Portuguese capital of Lisbon where the benefits of European space technologies will be extolled from 28 November 9 December.
The tour programme for 2014 is now being planned, so keep an eye out for the Space Expo – it may well be coming to a town near you next year! You can also follow the Space Expo on twitter using the hashtag #euspaceexpo.
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