IGSER 2019

Conference participants from all over the world

The Israel delegation of She Space International - an ‘educational space science project for the development of satellite Imaging Research application’. In addition to the Earth and Planetary Image Facility (EPIF) of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, other members are the DLR_School_Lab Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, the Aerosol Laboratory of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, and a group in Brazil.

The head of DLR_School_Lab Oberpfaffenhofen, Tobias Schüttler, gives a tour of the DLR's German Space Operations Center (GOSC). He points to a model of the ISS: among other things, the Columbus module of the ISS is controlled from Oberpfaffenhofen.

Nawwal and Luca host the afternoon - in English, of course! With charm and wit, they lead through the programme, announce the next speakers and guide through the panel discussion - quite a challenge!

Rony Rubin from Israel presents SheSpace International: by processing satellite images appropriately, participants can quantify the water quality of lakes and rivers in Israel.

The presentation by Dr Sophie Reinermann entitled ‘Heat and Drought in Germany - Analysis of Long-Term Earth Observation Time Series of Vegetation Condition’ shows the work of the scientist and the methods she uses to collect the data. The analysis of satellite images with decomposition into the colour channels blue, green, red, NIR (near infrared) and mid infrared allows vegetation (i.e. photosynthesising plants) to be detected with high contrast so that the ground areas to be analysed can be quantified.

The lectures took place in the ‘Red Salon’ of the GSOC (German Space Operation Center) - a very special location.

Four experts sat on the podium to answer questions from the audience, such as whether the Friday for Future movement would have experienced the same level of public discourse if the demonstrations had taken place outside of school hours.

On the panel:

• Simone Zepp, PhD at DLR
• Sophia Weigert, Friday for Future, Regensburg, former MINT Girls, medical student
• Dr Inga Beck, Schneefernerhaus Environmental Research Station
• Dr Shimrit Maman, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel