ASPACE-Q
The Astrophysics, Space Exploration and Quantum Computing Group
ASPACE-Q
The Astrophysics, Space Exploration and Quantum Computing Group
Between August 22nd and September 5th, our group took part as organizers and mentors in the 8th edition of the Summer School of Science and Technology from Măgurele, MSciTech. This year as well, we had the opportunity to guide five very promising high school students from across the country: Sofia Arsenoaiei, Darius Fudui, Rafael Gardoș, Alexandru Kelemen, and Cezar Mironov.
The central theme of this year’s school was “Science for Earth: a sustainable future through responsibility”, which allowed students not only to get a taste of the researcher’s life by working side by side with experts on scientific topics, but also to develop their sense of responsibility toward the planet they live on. Within the context of this central theme, 17 different research projects were proposed, each hosted by a research institute or faculty of the University of Bucharest.
The research project proposed by ASPACE-Q was “The impact of space debris on Earth and on equipment in its orbit.” Under the guidance of the mentors Florin Constantin, George Cristache, Bogdan Dumitru, Maria Ișfan, Alice Păun, Florentina Pîslan, and Monica Scorța, the students learned about how different types of space debris appear, the orbits satellites can take and how to calculate them, how to access and process data from catalogs published by reference organizations in the field of space debris, and how to animate in 3D the tracked objects and their movements. By the end of their work period at the institute, they produced a detailed analysis of space debris which included the country of origin, its evolution over time, the events that generated significant amounts of debris, as well as forecasts for the evolution of debris numbers and their impact. Moreover, on their own initiative, they also came up with a proposal for a space mission to clean up the LEO orbit, creating a CAD model of the satellite and a demonstrative 3D animation.
At the end of the summer school, the students presented their research results and, following the vote of those who attended the presentations of all 17 projects proposed this year, they won a very well-deserved first place!
For us, it was a pleasure to work alongside such passionate students. We are proud of the effort they put in and the results they achieved, and we wish them the best of luck in everything they set out to do!
