Since 2020, CNES has been coordinating ESA’s ESERO educational program in France, with the help of its partners La FondationLa main à la pâte, Cité de l’espace, and Planète sciences, and the support of the French Ministry of Education and Youth.
ESERO France extends contract for 3 years!
The final steering committee of this first three-year contract validated the success of this collaboration on Tuesday, November 29, 2022, at CNES in Toulouse, welcoming all the representatives of the parties involved, including representatives of ESA Education. It was a day rich in exchanges, feedback, ideas, and conviviality, underlining the quality and growing impact of this program on French teachers and students. It was also an opportunity for CNES to offer its partners the chance to discover certain CNES entities, such as the Martian terrain and the demonstration of its MMX rover by Jean Bertrand, or CESARS telecommunication resources and applications with Sonia Cazalens and Hélène Combes.
The proposal to renew the ESERO France contract for 2023-2025 was submitted to ESA next. ESERO France has also been selected by ESA for a Space Camp pilot project in the summer of 2023, to provide even more space for children and their families.
Education at the Cité de l’Espace
On November 30 and December 1, the Cité de l’Espace was the site of the second major event to which the Education Jeunesse department was invited to present its activities and resources, namely the ECSITE association’s “Space Group Meeting”, which brings together various European science museums interested in the space theme, as well as various ESA players.
Finally, on December 13 and 14, still at the Cité de l’Espace, the CNES Education team took part in the 42nd meeting of the ACE (Advisory Committee on Education), of which it is a member. This Advisory Committee on Education brings together representatives of ESA member states and national experts to advise the ESA Director General on education policy and initiatives using space as a context. It also enables the transmission of information between ESA and national space agencies. The ACE began its functions in Paris on October 24, 2001, and it was during the Granada meeting in January 2019 that CNES put forward its candidacy to coordinate the ESERO educational program in France.
During this 42nd meeting, ESA presented its ambitious “Space for Education 2030” plan, benefiting from the very positive repercussions of the 2022 ministerial, with, in particular, a 40% increase in the budget allocated to education. ESERO France is ready to take up the challenge, according to the contribution that will be assigned to it, for application from the start of the school year in September 2023 in the “STEM Learning & Inspiration” section for young people aged 3 to 19. The “ESA ACADEMY” section is for students.
CNES rounded off the 2-day event by inviting committee members to visit its Toulouse site: Philippe Lier presented CNES, an operational center open to Europe and the rest of the world, followed by visits to CADMOS for manned flights with Rémi Canton and Labo EXP for component testing with Olivier Puig.
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