by Mayte
Prof. Karl-Heinz Glassmeier invited GalileoMobile to give a talk at the 52nd COPUOS (Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space) meeting celebrated by the United Nations (UN) in Vienna. Maria and I volunteered to take part in the meeting and the talk was a bit different from the scientific ones we are used to.
We sat on a podium with an audience mainly consisting of ambassadors from UN member states and representatives of different research institutions. We also had to provide an advance script of our talk for the professional translators, who were simultaneously translating what we said into 5 different languages: Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic and Russian. So, it was a very formal presentation!
The COPUOS meeting aims to foster the exchange of information related to activities performed in outer space, to encourage research, and other activities within the field. We took this opportunity to present the goals of GalileoMobile by giving an overview of the project in a 30 minute talk.
Half way through the presentation we showed a small part of our new documentary ‘Ano-Luz‘ featuring Leonardo, a very special boy we met in Bolivia during the BraBo expedition. The reaction I received from the audience, while they were watching the video, made me travel back to the moment when I was behind the camera interviewing Leonardo. Their faces were exactly like mine at the time: full of excitement. This moment and the joy of being capable to transmit the value of GalileoMobile’s work and all it has achieved, reaffirmed my motivation to continue spreading astronomy and increasing the interest in science not only in students but also in teachers.
This was indeed a great opportunity to also exchange ideas with other projects and organisations! Thank you UN for inviting and having us there!
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