New Delhi :   SPACE the pioneer organization working towards the development of science and astronomy in India, today successfully completed World Space Week “the “largest annual public space event on Earth” as announced by United Nations General Assembly in the year 1999. The objective of World Space Week is to “celebrate each year (4th Oct – 10th Oct) at the International level, the contributions of space science and technology for the betterment of the human condition”. These two dates signify major events in man’s endeavor to explore space. October 4th, marks the 1st Sputnik launch which took place on Oct 4th, 1957 and Oct 10th,   1967 was when the UN treaty on peaceful exploration of space was signed.

Throughout WSW, SPACE encourages schools, amateur astronomers and research organizations to celebrate spirit of popularise Astronomy everywhere. SPACE associated schools and other schools carried out various astronomy activities such as a space movie theaters, sky observations, project displays, water rocket demonstrations, astronomy book stalls, quiz competitions etc. During WSW, SPACE launched “ASTROPORT”, a research center and night sky observation site at Sariska, Rajasthan, India, First of its kind in India, to provide a comprehensive solutions for the astronomers, amateur organizations, students, schools, colleges, tourists etc., for Night Observations and other scientific researches. SPACE also conducted a night observations for SPACE educators which let observers see the Milky Way. SPACE also organized an Interschool Painting Competition with themes

SPACE President Mr. C B Devgun said that “SPACE is the National coordinator for World SPACE Week in India and SPACE started this event in India in the year 2006. Through World Space Week, we tries to build workforce of tomorrow by inspiring students, demonstrates visible public support for the space program, educates the public about space activities.”

Several Organizations and amateur astronomy groups across India also celebrated World Space Week with public outreach activities to encourage the interest of the public. This year SPACE celebrated World Space Week with more than 10,000 students  across India, from different states of India like Haryana, Delhi, UP, Maharashtra, Bihar, Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa, Kerala. Sumatra Charitable Trust, Kerala held a lecture to

In 2013, the theme for WSW is “Exploring Mars – Discovering Earth”.  WSW 2013 is all about what many consider the Next Frontier: the planet Mars. Mars gives us an opportunity to define from scratch what world we want to live in. How can limited resources on a planet be used to build a new civilization, without depleting these resources? How can we create an environment that supports human life, without destroying critical elements needed to sustain other planetary processes? Learnings that we can apply to other planets, but also to our current planet!

To celebrate this years theme  ‘Exploring Mars – Discovering Earth’, a series of demonstrations and  interactions by Mars exploration network  with students around the world was coordinated by the WSW 2013 Mission Control Center, located at the Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) in Innsbruck, Austria. Activities include the WSW 2013 Mission to Mars, a 4-day simulation of a human Mars expedition at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. Other highlights include rover operations by schools remotely, in which a team from SPACE participated to control remotely a test rover based in Poland to learn about the control panels and parts of a rover.

Under the same effort, people all over the world are being invited to submit a fist-sized rock from their local area to form part of an ‘Earth Master Sample’. A fragment from each of the resulting collection of rocks will be ground to a powder, mixed together with a Mars meteorite, and melted down by leading crystal producer, Swarovski, who will craft a unique set of 100 crystals to commemorate the event. The crystals will be presented to representatives of space agencies, policy makers and thought leaders around the world.

Source : Lokesh Shastri