Goodbye Germany

I've spent the first half of this year working as a Science Communication intern at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and it's sadly my last day in the German state of Bavaria. My time in Munich has completely flown by. I watched the seasons change from icy and dark winter and then springtime blossom, to the summer sun. It's hard to believe that I'm leaving soon but I'd say the time has passed by in a flash due to my love of the work, city and people I've met here. 

The flags of ESO's 15 member states stood tall in the morning, Munich springtime sun this particular day — a Committee Meeting was taking place and the flags are saved for such occasions. I've been told that the winter this year was exceptionally mild compared to chilly Munich standards and spring definitely sprung early this year as the city has been in full bloom.

I arrived in Munich on New Years Day and had some incredible opportunities such as visiting the Columbus Control Centre and the stunning Austrian city of Vienna,  but most importantly I learnt first-hand how to communicate cutting-edge astronomical science to the masses and how to do it well.

The people I've met and friends I've made have made me feel at home in this new city and I'm looking forward to returning one day, hopefully in the near future. The past 5 months have been an incredible learning curve both personally and professionally — I've gained a range of skills and experiences that I believe will better equip me for whatever lies in store for me next. 

Adorable teddy in lederhosen — the perfect leaving present! 

Speaking of what's next... I'm flying to my summer home of Montreal this weekend as I begin work at the International Space University (ISU) Space Studies Program (SSP) 2014. The summer course is an intense 9-week educational immersion into the space industry. I actually was a student of this summer program back in 2012. You can read my blog post on my Florida space camp story here. 

This time around though, I'll be returning as a Teaching Associate for the Human Performance in Space (HPS) Department. I'll be sure to write a blog post with more details very soon :) For now though, I'm not quite ready to leave Munich, but looking forward to some change.

-Nikita

Columbus Calling

Yesterday morning, I was lucky enough to be given a tour of the Columbus Control Centre. Located at the German Aerospace Centre - DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) it sits just outside Munich in a place called Oberpfaffenhofen (also, my new favourite German word).

 As the Mission Control Centre for the European Columbus module of the International Space Station (ISS), engineers here are in contact with the astronauts up in space as well as other ISS Mission Control Centres scattered across the globe. It was a pretty amazing way to start my weekend!

 

The Columbus module is the European part of the ISS. It is a European Space Agency (ESA) laboratory attached to the space station, where astronauts conduct experiments in fields ranging from plant biology, fluid physics, life science and material science. 

Launched into space nestled inside the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2008—the Columbus module is a powerhouse of  space research and it is here, at the Columbus Control Centre that the space laboratory is controlled.

 

This room in the photos above is the Flight Control Room. It's staffed by a minimum of 3 people around the clock who monitor the module to ensure that everything is functioning correctly. Each astronaut's schedule is mapped out down to 5 minute increments — with 8 hours of work, 8 hours of play and 8 hours of sleep all precisely pencilled into the computer program on the screen above. Since it was a weekend, the astronauts are given this time off, so are free to enjoy the wonders of zero gravity without disturbance.

It was a really great day and a fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into the enormous global effort that the space station is, both on Earth and in space. 

A friendly engineer even let us sit in his chair for a photo op :) The button I'm holding speed dials an astronaut via Houston!

-Nikita

München

It's been a month and a half since I moved from London to Munich on New Years Day. Time has flown past and I'm already finding myself giving people (wrong) directions around town! 

Occasionally, I look back to my first few days at work when everything that seems so clear to me now was all new information and realise how much I've already learnt in this short time. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a wonderful place to grow professionally and I can only imagine the perspective I'll have on my last day — leaving as a better writer than before. 

Sitting at the forefront of cutting-edge astronomical research of the Southern skies— incredible new discoveries, exciting projects and magical images of the Universe are ESO's forté. One such project that I'm working on is the ESO Ultra HD Expedition, which is the journey of four world renowned astrophotographers to Chile in order to capture the magnificent ESO sites in all their grandeur . A week or so ago, Christoph Malin, one of the talented ESO Photo Ambassadors embarking upon the trip paid a visit to the office where he took some photos of us hard at work :) 

Living in a sleepy village outside Munich city centre means that I am always a tourist whenever I visit town. The weather has been unusually warm, but I'm not complaining!

I thought I'd share these snippets of my daily life as a short glimpse into working and living in Munich :)

-Nikita

Lost In Space

January has been a flurry of snow, early nights, getting lost, astronomy, writing and most of all learning.

 From learning how to write succinct yet compelling European Southern Observatory (ESO) press releases to navigating the U-Bahn, using Euros and recalling my GCSE German lessons— I'm getting more settled into life in Munich and will be posting more regularly in February. For now, here's a photo of what is getting me through these icy winter months:

 Hi, my name is Nikita and I'm a Nutella-holic.

-Nikita

New Year, New City

Happy New Year!

I hope that your first few days of 2014 have been wonderful and full of keeping those new resolutions. The New Year is usually a time for new beginnings, outlooks and fresh starts and I began 2014 with a flight to my new home for the next few months, Munich! 

On New Years Day, I flew 1 hour and a half away from my home city of London to Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria. It is also home to the world's most productive intergovernmental astronomy organisation and my new work place, the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Comprised of 15 member states, ESO operates a suite of the world's most advanced telescopes in the world which scan the Southern skies and probe the Universe for untold stories waiting to be discovered. With telescopes in three sites in Chile - La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor, ESO is working on painting an ever growing picture of the cosmos. 

It is vital that the findings revealed from the hidden universe are communicated to the public and this is where my department comes in. I am a Science Communication Intern within the education & Public Outreach Department (ePOD) of ESO. You can read biographies of the department members, including myself on the ESO website here. It is within ePOD that I am learning more about the science communication process and working with the team to produce press releases, popular articles, image/video captions and scripts in order to effectively communicate scientific information to a broader audience.

I'm very happy that I'm working in a field that I've pursued since a young age and I hope I can inspire others who have similar aspirations to continue to strive to achieve them. 

Auf Wiedersehen!

-Nikita