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Thousands of visitors discover the Institute for Space Aeronomy

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COMMUNICATION
During the weekend of 29 and 30 October 2018, the Uccle site opened its doors to the general public. For this occasion, the three scientific institutes worked together to offer a fun and educational weekend for both the young and old. BIRA-IASB’s presentation was articulated around its main research themes: air quality, climate, ozone, planetary aeronomy, engineering, solar radiation, and space physics, not forgetting all of the support services and B.USOC. The weekend opened with an exclusive preview for schools and a visit reserved for partners, politicians, and the press.
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The BIRA-IASB area was meant to be as interactive as possible. In addition to the posters made to present our activities in an accessible way for all, visitors could admire our impressive models - including that of the ExoMars mission measuring nearly 4 meters in width -, immerse themselves in space thanks to the virtual reality headsets, or even - and this is the most important - discuss with our staff.

Beside the area dedicated exclusively to BIRA-IASB and B.USOC, the staff of our institute was also involved in the children's tent and the educational tent.

  • In the children's tent you could find, among other things, a workshop whose purpose was to explain to children how outer space influences our Earth, or an area where they could design and craft their own buttons with space themes.
  • In the educational tent visitors and scientists could conduct various experiments together, for instance on the subject of light and another on the science of spectroscopy. And finally the educational tent also housed an astronomy photography exhibition.

The Open Doors were realized with the support of the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo).

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A beautiful day for the open doors event
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A beautiful day for the open doors event
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