For the second consecutive year, ESERO France has promoted the Moon Camp educational project across the country. Participation by French schools has increased significantly, with 127 projects and 15 classes at the Discovery level, 30 projects and 7 classes at the Explorer level, and 6 projects and 6 classes at the Pioneer level for the 2021-2022 edition.
France on the top step of the podium!
The European Space Agency (ESA), the Airbus Foundation, and Autodesk recently announced the winning projects of the 2021-2022 Moon Camp Challenge. A record number of students took up the challenge of designing an innovative and futuristic lunar base in 3D to accommodate the next generation of space explorers. This fourth edition of the Moon Camp Challenge involved the participation of 5,649 students from 53 countries around the world.
This year’s Moon Camp jury, composed of experts from ESA, the Airbus Foundation, and Autodesk in lunar exploration, 3D design, and space technology, was blown away by the impressive quality of the students’ projects. And what a wonderful surprise it was to discover that a team of French high school students had won first place among ESA member countries for the highest level of the challenge, the Pioneer level. Discover their production!
Journey from screen to the Moon for our Pioneers
We took advantage of Aymeric Lagrange and Julie Lombardo’s visit to the French closing event for the project on May 31 at the Cité de l’Espace to congratulate and reward them. Julie and Aymeric, prominent representatives of the winning team “Here We Are Back!”, presented their project and shared their extraordinary experience through this work. They were able to exchange ideas with representatives from the Airbus Foundation and two CNES experts from Spaceship FR.
An enriching and inspiring adventure, especially for the handful of high school students who participated in the Cult’ evening event “From the Screen to the Moon,” such as the team from Lafayette High School in Clermont Ferrand, who also submitted a beautiful lunar base project at the Pioneer level. A fun, entertaining, and cultural evening hosted by the Instant Science association, in the company of two CNES experts, Laure Boyer and Grégory Navarro, who are involved in CNES studies on programs to return humans to the moon. Analysis of pop culture works addressing the theme of lunar exploration, games, a big quiz… an indirect way of approaching science and learning more about current space activities concerning future lunar exploration.
Students set to explore the Moon
During the Moon Camp France event on May 31, 135 elementary and middle school students and teachers also attended an activity led by the Cité de l’Espace. Fun and educational workshops based on scenes from the film “A Trip to the Moon” allowed them to discover many concepts about the size of our natural satellite, its distance from Earth, the constraints associated with its exploration by humans, and more.
The Pablo Picasso College in Frouzins, part of the Toulouse Academy, having successfully completed the Discovery level of the challenge this year, was able to take full advantage of the presence of Grégory Navarro, an expert on future lunar habitats, to present its achievements to the engineer. Grégory said he was very impressed by the creativity of these young budding scientists and even took some of their ideas on board for his own research!
To learn more about the Moon Camp educational challenge, click on the project page!
