Astrospace
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Departamento de Física Universidad de Santiago de Chile Fono: 56-2-7181223 e-mail: marina.stepanova@usach.cl |
The International Space Camp took place in Rivadavia, a small village located in the Valle del Elqui, from the 15th to 29th of January, 2005. It was organized by Dr. Marina Stepanova (Universidad de Santiago de Chile, USACH) together with other scientists from Universidad de Chile (UChile), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), Universidad de Concepción (UdeC), Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (UTFSM), Universidad de La Serena (ULS), Universidad Técnica Metropolitana (UTEM), Bauman Moscow State Technical University (Russia), and the Russian Cosmonaut Alexander Balandine. The camp was sponsored by the Chilean Government First Lady Ms. Luísa Durán de Lagos, European Southern Observatory (ESO), Kuzbassrazrezugol (Russia), Chilean Ministry of Education, Chilean Air Force, Illustrious Municipality of Vicuña, GEMINI Observatory, Mamalluca Observatory, and the Planetarium of Universidad de Santiago de Chile.
More than 80 students from Chile, Russia, Venezuela, and Bulgaria traveled from Santiago to La Serena in a Hercules airplane of the Chilean Air Force:
When arrived at La Serena town, they were received by highest authorities of the Coquimbo Region.
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In the following days, the students attended to the following scientific talks about the most relevant questions of the universe:
1. Creation of the Universe (Big Bang) - Dr. Olivier Espinosa (UTFSM)
2. Galaxies and Structure Formation - Drs. Amelia Ramírez and Héctor Cuevas (Universidad de La Serena)
3. Stellar Evolution- Dr. Ronald Mennickent (UdeC)
4. Compact Stars (White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars) - Dr. Andreas Reisenegger (PUC)
5. Black Holes and Quasars - Dr. Paulina Lira (Universidad de Chile)
7. Our Solar System - Dr. Omar Benvenuto (PUC)
8. Exoplanets and Life in the Universe - Dr. Dante Minniti (PUC)
They also were able to learn practical lessons about space technology and how to live in space at the following workshops:
1. How to make a telescope?– Engineer José Lay, Amateur Astronomer
2. Satellite and instrumentation design–Aerospace Engineer Dr. Anatoly Kopik (Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Russia) and Dr. Ernesto Gramsch (USACH)
3. Fundamentals of remote sensing - Dr. Olga Zdanovich (Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Russia) and Mg. Roberto Richardson (UTEM)
4. Space flights - Cosmonaut Alexander Balandine (Russia)
5. Survival- Mr. Sergey Insarov, Cosmonaut survival trainer (Russia)
The students visited the Cerro Tololo International Observatory (CTIO) and the Observatory Mamalluca.
They also enjoyed participating in many recreational activities. However, the most interesting for them, according to the majority, was a concert that the children made for the people of Rivadavia village.
