posted 08-13-2014 07:18 PM               

Commemorative kit on Europe's last cargo spacecraft honors fleet's namesakes

Packed onboard Europe's final space freighter to dock with the International Space Station is a small blue box.

It is not the most important payload onboard the "Georges Lemaître" — the name that the European Space Agency (ESA) gave its fifth and last Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) — but the box's contents represent the history that was made and the science that was advanced by the fleet of five spacecraft and their namesakes.

The kit, which was developed by ESA's education office, includes embroidered mission patches and matching lapel pins for each of the ATV flights to the International Space Station, including the Georges Lemaître, which arrived at the orbiting laboratory on Tuesday (Aug. 12) carrying more than seven tons of fuel, supplies and experiments.

posted 08-13-2014 07:19 PM               

ESA is distributing most of the remaining kits to schools, but has set aside five of the boxes to give away online.

To qualify for one of the limited edition kits, ESA is asking the public to create their own videos that both explain and demonstrate a law of physics, chemistry or biology and its relevance to space. The best five of the videos submitted through ESA's ATV website will win.

"Ideally the demonstrations should be practical to recreate in a classroom or outside safely but if you happen to have an MRI scanner in your garage and think you can use it to demonstrate the existence of dark matter, by all means send it in," ESA advises.

The deadline to enter the education challenge is Oct. 31, 2014.

posted 11-19-2014 08:03 AM               

ATV education challenge relaunched

In August we offered five limited-edition box-sets of ATV heritage in a competition for the best educational videos on physics. The prize includes all five ATV mission patches and pins with five DVD’s worth of educational videos packaged in a sleek blue box.

Never before has a competition on the ATV blog had such little response. An explanation for this baffles us, considering the amazing prize we have on offer. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst himself was overjoyed on receiving his prize for his unique demonstration of the physics behind a comet landing, he took a picture of himself with the box set on the International Space Station. Watch his entry below:

We did receive two entries from people on Earth through the normal channels. Rafael from Spain was the first to kick of the competition with a short video on the laws of reflection:

Shortly afterwards Simon sent in this excellent film explaining ATV’s reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and the physics behind their burnup. He even modifies a bicycle pump to power a led lamp to prove his point and inspire teachers:

Not too late to win

The three pioneering individuals above will receive their prizes soon, but we have decided to extend the deadline yet again to allow another three people a chance to win. Make a video, post it online using the service of your choice, and link to it in the comments on the ATV education challenge post.