Showcasing Europe's space successes at the Ecsite Space Group Annual Meeting

On 30 November and 1 December, approximately thirty delegates from fifteen European institutions gathered at ESA's European Space Operations Centre, ESOC, in Germany for the Ecsite Space Group Annual Meeting 2023. The meeting brought together a varied group of experts from Europe’s scientific divulgation community, including science centres, museums, planetariums and universities, to share knowledge and promote collaboration.

With over 190 members and the support of ESA, the Space Group has been convening annually since 2012 to facilitate the exchange of ideas and projects and foster ​communication in public spaces about European achievements in space. The group benefits from the established European networks of Ecsite and the European space network of ESA and its Member States.

Ranging from museum showcases to presentations and workshops, attendees immersed themselves in a wide range of activities over the course of two days. Through these activities they were able to discover the latest European space endeavours and the most recent space-themed exhibitions from across Europe.

DAY 1

The meeting was opened by Rolf Densing, ESA ESOC’S Head of Establishment and Director of Operations, who warmly welcomed the Space Group and introduced the activities conducted at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre. Densing’s opening remarks also acknowledged the challenges of science communication: “Innovation is not confined to technology, but also extends to ideas. Which is why, as the Head of ESOC Establishment, I am proud to be hosting you today, being aware of how challenging it is to communicate complex topics such as dark matter, or black holes to the general public.”

Following Rolf Densing, Catherine Franche, Executive director of Ecsite, and Maria Menendez, Head of ESA’s Outreach Coordination Office, provided a few additional words of welcome. Franche encouraged participants to contribute their ideas and initiatives to the group: “After 13 years of collaboration it is time to make a point and perhaps reconsider the Ecsite Space Group goals bringing to it innovations and fresh ideas.” Menendez highlighted the essential role played by the Ecsite Space Group members in communicating space-related topics in public spaces such as science centres and museums. She commented: “At the beginning of our journey, we started with 20 museums, and now we have grown to approximately 190 institutions. This data underlines the importance of collaboration with member states, academia, and industry in fostering and showcasing Europe's achievements in space to a wider European audience.”

Karina De Castris, ESA’s Exhibitions Coordinator Officer, initiated the session dedicated to “Communicating Together Achievements and Endeavours.” She presented ESA’s exhibition at the Paris Air Show 2023 as an example, taking a deep dive into the communication strategy behind it. De Castris explained: “In an immersive and informative experience, ESA’s exhibition featured a glimpse of the latest successes, upcoming endeavours and the long-term ambitions of the Agency.”

Kai Noske, Communication Programme Officer at ESA presented ESA’s Communication Highlights for 2024, providing insights into the agency’s upcoming endeavours. From Human and Robotic Exploration and Earth Observation to Navigation and Space Transportation, the upcoming year promises a wealth of exceptional missions, creating ample opportunities for communication, outreach activities and exhibitions.

At the end of the work sessions. Participants had the unique opportunity to visit ESOC’s control rooms and facilities. Here, they learned more about how ESA’s missions are launched, operated and controlled from Earth. They were also able to discover ESA’s activities in the space safety field.

Day 2

The second day began with a presentation by Sandra Benitez Herrera, Education Scientist and ESAC Communication Officer, who shared insights into ESA's educational programme and resources. Additionally, she introduced the CESAR project, an educational ESA initiative whose main objective is to engage secondary school students with the wonders of astronomy and, more generally, science and technology. 

Benitez was followed by a presentation of the different types and sources of ESA digital material available for use by museums. Oderica Lusi, Exhibitions Editor at the European Space Agency, presented three new sources of outreach materials for exhibitions and events: the Exhibitions homepage on esa.int, the ‘ready-to-use material’ page and the Exhibitions section of the ESA Photolibrary for professionals.  Lusi explained how to access the platforms, download the material, and provided details about formats and procedures for registrations and requests.

“Stories need a hero. No hero, no story,” said Daniel Scuka, Head of ESA’s Content Office, as he shared insights on fostering public engagement through storytelling from an ESA perspective. He explained the storytelling strategy behind ESA’s Juice mission, illustrating how ESA’s communicators successfully transformed the Juice satellite into a captivating ‘space hero’, who embarked on a long journey filled not only with discoveries and successes, but also with challenges and technical difficulties.”

The second part of the morning was dedicated to the workshop ’Public Engagement through Storytelling’, which was led and facilitated by Christophe Chaffardon, Education, Science and Culture Director, Cité de l'espace, and Tobias Wolff, Exhibition Manager of Universum Bremen GmbH.
Attendees were divided into small groups of 7/8 participants to create stories focused on the themes of Exploration or climate change. Objectives included exploring ways to boost the visibility of European space actors, sharing basic elements of storytelling as science communication tool and concrete examples of storytelling in museums.

What’s next? See you in June 2024 at the Ecsite Conference in Slovenia!

The next meeting of the Space Group is at the Ecsite Annual Conference 2024, that will be held from 5-8 June 2024 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Learn more about this here. 
For more information about the Ecsite Space Group, please click here.
To join the Ecsite Space Group and receive the newsletter, please click here.

For further information, contact:
Sandra Benítez Herrera
Education Scientist and ESAC Communication Officer, ESA co-chair of the Space Group
Tel: +34 609665424
Email: sandra.benitezherrera@esa.int.