The sky is not the limit
Since its presentation on 24 March, the students of IES Las Musas have continued to make progress in the educational project 'The Muses and the Stars' promoted by the Embassy of Israel.
For the first time since the start of the project at the beginning of the academic year 2020-2021, the scientific directors of this initiative, the Israeli aerospace engineers Dr. Ana Heller and Dr. Shimrit Maman, will visit IES Las Musas to meet the participating students and give classes and talks in person. In addition, the children who have been working on the project 'The Muses and the Stars' will present the progress made in recent months. Due to the pandemic, the Israeli researchers had not been able to work with the students in person, and all classes and meetings had taken place online.
Heller and Maman will be accompanied by Yossi Yamin, CEO of the Israeli pharmaceutical company SpacePharma, an internationally renowned company in the field of pharmaceutical research in space. The nanosatellite on which the IES Las Musas students are working will be dedicated to biological research in microgravity conditions.
Thus, the Embassy of Israel in Spain has selected two of the projects created in Israel aimed at promoting STEM education in space issues -'Youth Space' and 'She Space'- to be developed in schools in Spain with secondary/high school students. The directors of these projects, Dr. Ana Heller and Dr. Shimrit Maman, will direct and develop them in coordination with the Spanish schools that join this initiative.
The aim is to promote and encourage young people's passion for research and science with an innovative project that is at the same time a unique challenge.
"Without a doubt, I know that from this generation, from these 30 children, we will have aerospace engineers in the future who will do brilliant things for this country and they will remember these moments and this opportunity that the Israeli embassy and the public high school in their neighbourhood, in San Blas, have given them. We will reach for the stars," said José Antonio Expósito, headmaster of Las Musas Secondary School.
'Youth Space' is a unique and pioneering project. The aim is for participating students to send a nanosatellite into space and subsequently analyse the data received. The nanosatellite payload consists of a series of kits produced by SpacePharma for students to design their own biological experiments in microgravity conditions. It has a duration of several years, and the students' work has been organised on the model of Israeli start-ups.
The 'She Space' project is aimed at middle and high school girls, and its objective is to carry out studies on climate change through the analysis of satellite images. The project already has partners in the United States, Germany, Brazil, Peru, Togo and, since last year, in Spain.
Both projects were launched last academic year (2020-2021) at IES las Musas de Madrid under the name ' The Muses and the stars '.
The students of Las Musas have "baptised" their nanosatellite with the name "SpYsat Urania" (Spanish Youth Satellite Urania) in honour of the muse of astronomy.
Schools from other autonomous communities are expected to join the project in the near future.
