‘Kimberley’ will be the Maltese satellite in space

The European Commission has announced the winners of the Galileo drawing competition about ‘Space and Aeronautics’. Eleven year old Kimberley Camilleri from Mellieħa has been selected as the Maltese winner by a national jury panel.
By: Media Consulta Malta Ltd
 
March 27, 2012 - PRLog -- The winners, one from each of the 27 European Union Member States, will have a Galileo Programme Satellite named after them and launched into space. A satellite called Kimberley will now form part of the Galileo satellite constellation. Galileo will provide a highly accurate positioning service and will enhance Europe’s technological independence.

At an Awards Ceremony which took place today, the winner was presented with a certificate and trophy representing the real satellite that will be named after her. The ceremony was held at Santa Monica School, Gżira, in the presence of Mr. Martin Bugelli, Head of the European Commission Representation in Malta, Dr. James Calleja, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Employment and the national adjudication panel. Mr. Bugelli congratulated Kimberley for “her vivid expression of the different benefits of space technology for Europeans.” He also thanked all the participants for submitting a total of 131 drawings, and urged them to participate in similar initiatives that the European Commission organises from time to time as a way to be more active in letting the world know what they think.”

Dr. James Calleja thanked the parents and carers for encouraging their children to take on this challenge:  “Among other responsibilities, parents and carers fulfil the role of informal educators and complement the work done by the school teacher. Extracurricular activities are a learning experience for the entire family, which the children, as well as the adults, cherish for many years”, he said. Dr. Calleja also thanked the schools for supporting this fun, yet educational, initiative.

Kimberley Camilleri was selected as the winner in Malta by a national panel of judges comprising Dr. Angelo Chetcuti from the European Commission Representation in Malta, Ian Busuttil Naudi, presenter of the weekly television programme ‘Gadgets’, and Tony Tanti from the Malta Society of Astronomy.



About the Galileo Drawing Competition
This exciting drawing competition has been organised by the European Commission. It was open to children aged between 9 and 11 years, living in the EU27 countries. A winner was selected from each Member State.
To take part, each child was required to submit a piece of artwork based on the theme ‘Space and Aeronautics’. The children were invited to give free rein to their imagination and use any drawing, painting and colouring material and techniques they wished. Pictures were then scanned or photographed and uploaded to the competition website.
The competition ran from 1st September to the 15th November 2011 and the winners will be announced throughout the first quarter of 2012.

The Galileo Programme
Galileo is Europe’s independent global navigation satellite programme allowing Europe to remain at the forefront of space-related technologies. Galileo is the Programme of the European Union to develop a global navigation satellite system under European civilian control. It will be compatible and, for some of its services, interoperable with the American GPS and Glonass (Russia), but independent from them. The satellite system will have many applications including transportation management and mobile phone applications. The Galileo Programme Satellites are scheduled to be launched in phases and until the constellation is complete. The first satellites were launched in 2011. A further two satellites will be launched later this year.
For further details regarding the competition please visit http://www.galileocontest.eu, while details about the Galileo Satellite Programme may be obtained from http://ec.europa.eu/galileo.




Background
Galileo Navigation system
Galileo will allow users to know their exact position in time and space, just like GPS, but with greater precision and reliability. Galileo is the Programme of the European Union to develop a global satellite navigation system under European civilian control. It will be compatible and, for some of its services, interoperable with the American GPS and Glonass (Russia), but independent from them.

In 2014 Galileo will offer three services: the Open Service (free of charge), the Public Regulated Service (ensures that key services such as the police and ambulance services, continue to function in moments of crisis), and the Search-and-Rescue Service (in times of emergency, for example a sailor lost at sea).

Further services to follow later will include a Commercial Service and a Safety-of-Life Service for higher accuracy authenticated data and use in life-critical applications. Galileo recently took a huge leap forward on 21st October with the launch of the first two operational Galileo satellites. A second launch of a further 2 Galileo operational satellites is foreseen in 2012. This success paves the way to the provision of Galileo's initial services in 2014.

Contracts allocated for the deployment of Galileo: The deployment phase began in 2008 and work has been divided into six lots which have all been opened to public procurement markets. The first four lots - i.e. engineering support, construction of the satellites, launch services (IP/10/7) and operations (IP/10/1382) - were all allocated in 2010 for roughly €1,250 million. The final two lots, which concern ground infrastructure, were allocated in June 2011 (IP/11/772).

EGNOS the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service: Already since 1st of October 2009 Europeans benefit from improved GPS signals in Europe provided by EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service.

EGNOS comprises just three satellites including more than 40 ground stations, and acts as an enhancement to the US-based GPS system for safety critical applications in aviation and marine environments. It provides freely available positioning data throughout Europe to any EGNOS-enabled GPS receiver. Its Safety-of-Life Service increasing aviation safety is operational since March 2011 (IP/11/247).

International cooperation: The EU system and those from China, the United States, Russia, Japan and India are compatible, but this requires constant discussions with each nation and within a UN context. Norway participates and has contributed to the funding of the program, and there are on-going negotiations with Switzerland.

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Source:Media Consulta Malta Ltd
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Tags:Telecom, Space Technology, Competition, Schools, Malta, eu, Satellites, Navigation
Industry:Aerospace, Education, Technology
Location:Birkirkara - Birkirkara - Malta
Subject:Awards
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