E-news January 2023

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Subject: E-news January 2023

E-news January 2023

"Talent is the multiplier. The more energy and attention you invest in it, the greater the yield."

Marcus Buckingham

Happy New Year!

2023 is shaping up to be an exciting year filled with new opportunities as the space industry keeps booming throughout Europe. At HE Space we welcomed the new year by enjoying delicious food and great company at cosy get togethers in the Netherlands and Germany.

Impressions of HE Space New Year's celebrations in the Netherlands and Germany.

The Bremen office kicked off our New Year's celebrations with a stylish dinner at an elegant restaurant in the city centre. A week later a bigger party was held in the Netherlands at Brasserie Buitenhuis on the outskirts of Leiden. On-site employees as well as office colleagues from Germany and the UK were able to join the party too. Scott Millican and his wife Lia were also present as this gathering offered the perfect chance to celebrate Scott's retirement and the beginning of a new chapter for HE Space.

Despite the more formal occasion behind the gathering, the party in the Netherlands was livened up by musical bingo which gave people the chance to sing their hearts out as well as a DJ and an old tram repurposed as a unique bar and dance floor opposite the restaurant.

If you didn't get around to it yet, you can still leave a message for Scott Millican's retirement on a dedicated online platform called kudoboard by following the invitation link sent to your email. You can personalise your message by adding photos or videos.

Screenshot of the kudoboard with some of the messages left by HE Space employees for Scott Millican's retirement.

HE Space's way forward with CS GROUP

On January 19 the ownership of HE Space was officially transferred to CS GROUP. This marks the beginning of a new era for HE Space with the exciting prospect of building an ever stronger network within the space industry in Europe.

Impressions of CS GROUP CEO Eric Blanc-Garin visiting the HE Space Noordwijk office after the official transfer of ownership on January 19 2023.

On January 19, after finalising the acquisition of HE Space, the CEO of CS GROUP Eric Blanc-Garin came to Noordwijk to visit HE Space's headquarters and meet the back office team. We marked the occasion with a special toast together with HE Space founder Scott Millican as well as colleagues from Germany and the UK.

HE Space and CS GROUP both share 40 years of experience in the space industry and a passion for people as a qualified and competent workforce is the common drive for growth for both companies.

By joining forces HE Space and CS GROUP will have a stronger presence among space institutional organisations such as ESA's ESOC and ESTEC agencies, EUMETSAT and industrial partners like Airbus, Thales and OHB.

We're in the process of organising two in-person events with CS GROUP management, one in the Netherlands on February 15 and one in Darmstadt on February 14 to give everyone the chance to meet face to face. Please save the date. You'll receive more details on the programme and venue via email.

We look forward to building a strong future together!

Keeping visitors engaged at ESA ECSAT 5G/6G Hub - a chat with HE Space employee James Talbot

James Talbot works onsite at ECSAT (Harwell, UK) for HE Space as an Administrative Assistant for the Telecommunications and Integrated Applications Directorate (TIA-TG) since July 2022. Besides planning and event management, his day-to-day job has also brought him close to the ESA 5G/6G Hub at ECSAT in a more creative way.

Jason Maroothynaden, Raluca Popescu, Lori van der Veen and James Talbot in the Moon Room of ESA 5G/6G Hub at ECSAT in Harwell, UK.

ESA 5G/6G Hub at ECSAT aims at leveraging the immense potential of converged satellite and terrestrial telecommunications networks to create advanced applications that benefit society and the environment. It's one of the biggest ongoing projects at ECSAT supported by the UK Space Agency (UKSA) and sponsored by a 150 million pound investment approved by the UK government at the ESA Ministerial Council in November 2022.

Unsurprisingly many people within TIA are involved with a variety of activities to push forward and promote ESA 5G/6G Hub. When industrial partners and other stakeholders visit the ESA 5G/6G Hub, they usually stay for about an hour, most of which is spent between meetings and presentations. As a result, visitors tend to have no more than 5 minutes to understand what the Hub has to offer. That's just enough time to watch a short demo to illustrate the benefits of 5G/6G business applications in the most intuitive and engaging way possible.

That's where James' background in IT and music expertise (MA in Music Composition and Theory) have come in handy. To maximise the visitor's experience, making the most of the equipment already available James has created virtual reality (VR) apps to showcase ESA's core activities such as the Moonlight programme.

By wearing a special headset and standing still, visitors can see with their own eyes what ESA ongoing projects entail and experience their potential impact on society and business activities. For example, during their Hub visit, Lori, Raluca and Jason watched the Moonlight demo taking viewers straight onto the moon's surface perfectly reconstructed according to NASA's observations.

James is currently working on a 6G app to showcase the use of 6G satellite data. The app features an interactive display with buttons to illustrate each of the potential benefits 6G applications could bring to society, secure communications and the environment. Check out the 6G app demo below.

Preview of one scene from the 6G app designed by James Talbot while in use.

NEW! ESA Retro Computing Club Opening Soon at ESTEC

David Honess (ESA Education) is planning to start a new ESTEC/ESCAPE SSCC club in association with two ESA staffers (Neil Beadle and Simon Clucas). If you're passionate about retro computers and games, don't hesitate to get in touch with David. More details below.

The ESA Retro Computing Club will bring together a community of people based around a common interest in retro home computers, business computers, games consoles and arcade machines. The club will foster social interaction through monthly meetings where retro gaming (for nostalgia) and technical training for repairing things takes place on site at ESTEC.

If you have any old hardware, working or broken, the club may be able to use it and David would like to hear from you! Chat with David on Teams here. He is looking for anything from Acorn, Atari, Commodore, Nintendo, Sega, Sinclair and more. Hardware can be donated or loaned to the club.

If you want to join the Teams channel for the club you can do so here. A join button should come up! The club will not be made official until the Spring SSCC AGM.

Actionable and Sustainable New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of the year when we usually reflect on things we can improve in our lives and maybe even come up with New Year resolutions. A more healthy lifestyle is usually one of the most common New Year's resolutions but implementing more sustainable habits, while still starting at the individual level, can have an even bigger impact. Read further to discover some practical tips on how to live more sustainably.

Here are 12 examples of both easy-to-implement and more ambitious sustainable New Year's resolutions which could help lower your carbon footprint:

Use less water — Difficulty: Easy
Unplug devices when not in use to minimise phantom power — Difficulty: Easy
Donate your old stuff — Difficulty: Easy
Use reusable products — Difficulty: Easy
Recycle your old electronics — Difficulty: Easy
Eat less meat or go vegan — Difficulty: Medium
Try meat alternatives — Difficulty: Medium
Start composting — Difficulty: Medium
Start your own garden — Difficulty: Medium
Use an electric vehicle for commutes (car or bike) — Difficulty: Hard
Avoid food waste completely — Difficulty: Hard
Use renewable energy — Difficulty: Hard

Want to know more about how to implement these sustainable New Year's resolutions? You can read the full article here.

Our Newcomers

We are happy to announce that the following colleagues have recently joined HE Space. A warm welcome to:

Eleni Papadopoulou joined HE Space as a Learning and Development Administrator at ESTEC in the Directorate of Internal Services.

Eleni has studied Environmental Engineering in Greece and just finished her Master's degree in Environmental Hazards and Risk Management at the University of Cote d’Azur in France. During her studies, she got familiar with many satellite programmes and was always interested in learning new techniques for using remote sensing data in her projects.

She is ready to fit in, collaborate with several department teams and face new challenges!

Laurène Muselet joined HE Space as a Strategy Analysis Officer in the Foresight, Strategy and Coordination department (DG-5) at ESA HQ in Paris. She graduated from ESCP Business School with a BSc in Management and from the London School of Economics with an MSc in Environment and Development with a focus on climate policies.

She just finished her end-of-study internship at ESA HQ in the Climate and Sustainability team (DG-5C) and is now extremely motivated to continue building a solid bridge between environmental action and the space industry.

In her free time, Laurène enjoys spending time with friends, discovering new places and learning about different cultures, and going bouldering or for a run when the weather permits it.

Pablo Gonzalez Santatecla joined HE Space as Microwave Engineer at ESTEC in TEC-EFE. He was born in Gandia (Valencia, Spain) and holds a Master's degree in Telecommunication Engineering from Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, where he is currently finishing his PhD about high power effects in RF components.

In his free time he likes to practise rock climbing, hiking and photography.

Camilla Francis joined HE Space as

a Communications Officer for TIA at ECSAT (Harwell, UK). Camilla is British but lived in France for ten years working at the OECD in Paris. Following a relocation to the UK in 2017 she started working as an Editor for TIA at ECSAT before moving to an Outreach role in Corporate Comms. With HE Space Camilla is now working half-time for the Marcom team at TIA. She studied American literature at Sussex University and afterwards trained as a journalist at the London School of Journalism.

Camilla enjoys wild swimming, paddle-boarding, sailing and the odd fungi foray. She speaks fluent French, studied grammar at the Sorbonne and returns frequently to France.

Carolina Tienda Herrero joined HE Space as an Antenna Design Engineer at ESTEC in TEC.

She is originally from Málaga, in the south of Spain. Carolina moved to the Netherlands from the UK where she used to work for Airbus.

She is excited to start her new work as part of HE Space team.

HE Space Children's Foundation plans for 2023

CS GROUP update

With the acquisition of HE Space by CS GROUP you might wonder if the HE Space Children’s Foundation will keep existing. In the owner of CS GROUP, Eric Blanc-Garin, Scott Millican found a kindred soul. Eric is himself active in supporting the building of schools in Africa.

As the board we are happy to inform you that one of the conditions of the sale was to keep the HE Space Children’s Foundation and continue to devote part of HE Space's profit to funding it.

Giving Ukrainian children a taste of space

HE Space Telecommunications System Engineer and Ukraine national Hlib Cheporniuk approached us last year with a great idea: inviting Ukrainian refugee children to Space Expo, the space museum in Noordwijk. He and his fellow volunteers expected 42 children to attend in the span of two days: 13th and 20th of January 2023. The HESCF provided a donation of 500 euros to make this visit possible.

Impressions of the guided tours at Space Expo with Ukranian refugees organised by Katerina Czech (RHEA), Volodymyr Kudriashov (Sapienza) and Hlib Cheporniuk (HE Space) in January 2023.

We are happy to share the success of the joint initiative by Katerina Czech (RHEA), Volodymyr Kudriashov (Sapienza) and Hlib Cheporniuk (HE Space). They’ve organized multiple visits of Ukrainian refugees and their kids to the Space Expo on 13th, 20th and 25th January. In total, 130 guests were able to enjoy Ukrainian guided tours at Space Expo. Katerina, Volodymyr and Hlib tried on the role of Ukrainian-speaking guides and shared their experience and knowledge about space and astronomy with the guests. The main goal was to show support and spark an interest in space among our young, but very curious, visitors.

Many thanks to Space Expo and ESA’s Education Office for their joint support and to Katerina, Volodymyr and Hlib for making the tours possible.

Impression of the latest HESCF board meeting where Barbara ten Berge, Carin Krabbendam, Scott Millican and Claudia Evans discussed future plans for 2023.

Looking ahead - future projects

Here is an overview of ongoing projects and new initiatives in the works:

New project in Pakistan: in 2023 we will start to support a specialised centre where children with autism and learning disabilities (such as dyslexia and ADHD) can receive the care they need. This project was initiated by Hafiz Faisal Rasool, working as an Operations Engineer at EUMETSAT in Darmstadt.
Sunshine in Nosy Komba: we are renewing our support of this running project.
New Nosy Komba project: this year we'll focus on supporting teacher training programmes in Madagascar.
Anjali House project: our ongoing support will contribute to buying computers for the pupils.