It’s week 4, we’re nearly halfway through SSP19, and we’re moving on to the second phase of SSP – the departmental phase.

The week started off with la Fête Nationale, or Bastille Day, where the night ended with a spectacular firework show in the city center on Sunday evening.

On Monday, the department activities kicked-off with some exciting workshops and trips.

 This week, the Space Applications department went on a geocaching adventure, the first of many field trips. Space Engineering is preparing for the annual SSP rocket competition, run by former SSP director and NASA Chief Exploration Scientist, John Connolly. The Human Perforamance in Space department had an ultrasound workshop and also had a Space Bar that experimented with different space cocktail techniques. The Space Humanities built spaghetti-marshmallow towers and had workshops on anthropology and bioethics, and search for extraterrestrial life. The Space business and management group visited a local start-up incubator and were introduced to a business plan competition and coached on marketing and business pitch ideas. The Space policy, economy and law department was visited by the chief of Committee, Policy, and Legal Affairs at UNOOSA for a discussion on space governance and the UN global sustainability goals. Space sciences had a microgravity experiment and a Remastering Viking 1 and 2 Data workshop.

The start of the department activities marked the end of the core lectures, with the last lecture on Wednesday morning. As per tradition, the staff sang a musical interlude at the end of the core lectures, written by our very own Participant Liaison, Dillon, featuring four different languages! After a review session and a study-filled evening, the participants were ready to take on the exam on Thursday.

With a stressful week coming to an end, everyone is looking forward to an exciting culture night with Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, South Korea and USA.

It’s going to be a busy weekend for the participants with the rocket competition and the first TP deliverable due on Monday!