George Psaltakis is a student at the Hellenic Mediterranean University in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in Crete, who participated along with 23 other students from Europe and Canada in the “Fly a Rocket” program of the European Space Agency (ESA).
Only 21 years old, he managed to be in the final group of participants after submitting his CV and answering some technical questions during the application he submitted to ESA.
The young talented student spoke to protothema.gr about the unique experience he gained during the seven-day experiment in Andoya, Norway, on the Arctic Circle.
“The experiment involved the construction and launch of a test rocket. When I found out about this program -I always liked space- I filled my application. This program is called “Fly a Rocket” and takes place every two years by ESA and applications are from students from all ESA member countries. I submitted along with my application, my CV, my score and answered some technical questions. Then you wait for the choice which is made almost a month after your application”.
The 21-year-old student went to Norway on October 10, having prepared for one year like the other students with work on the basic principles of aerospace, studying a textbook of track engineering, classical engineering, while working in fields from physics to programming.
“When we got there because our time would be quite short, only 7 days we already had some work ready on the basic principles of aerospace. When we arrived in the Arctic Circle we were working on the program from morning till night. We assembled the load of the rocket with special sensors, cameras, gyroscopes, sensors that we had made. In the beginning we studied the conclusions of our experiments such as how fast the rocket spins until it falls”, says George Psaltakis.
The experience of the Greek student is unique and as he said what he will keep is the very good cooperation with the other students but also the fact that he was next to professionals in the field who did not believe until a while ago that he would meet. “This was the first ESA program I participated in. The experience was unique. We were in the Arctic Circle, we saw the Northern Lights and we were next to professionals in the field, learning all their secrets on aerospace”.
