On 20 October, the inauguration ceremony for SpaceHub Guimarães took place at the Vila Flor Cultural Centre. at the Vila-Flor Cultural Centre, co-organised by the entities involved: Guimarães City Council, CEiiA and the University of Minho, in collaboration with CTI Aeroespacial, marking the official launch of a pioneering project that puts Guimarães in the orbit of technological and scientific innovation.
The session was attended by the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Fernando Alexandre, the President of CCDR-N, António Cunha, the Mayor of Guimarães, Domingos Bragança, as well as representatives from CEiiA, the University of Minho, industrial partners, researchers and students.
The Guimarães Space Hub (GSH) is a space for collaboration between students and researchers from the University, CEiiA and partners Portuguese Air Force, GEOSAT, NEO and CTI Aeroespacial, involved in the Atlantic Constellation and the recently created New Space Alliance.
It was created with the aim of contributing to the country’s scientific and technological evolution in the area of New Space, through closer links between academia and industry, with a view to solving complex societal challenges in the areas of quality of life, combating climate change and sustainability, starting in the city and the northern region.
GSH carries out its activities through annual scientific programmes with students and researchers and initiatives aimed at the younger generation, starting in secondary school, such as the SLI programme – Sustainable Living Innovators programme, covering areas such as space systems and technologies, geospatial models and intelligence, advanced science and technology associated with space medicine, new forms of construction, energy and mobility, in an integrated manner, to use space technologies to solve Earth’s problems.
This hub is part of an ecosystem currently being consolidated in our country, involving international partners around the Atlantic Constellation, the new European system of high and very high resolution Earth observation satellites with intraday revisit, for applications in the areas of defence, security and sustainability.
The Atlantic Constellation is the largest space sector project in our country’s history and originates from an Iberian partnership, being a decisive asset for a ‘safer, more sovereign and competitive Europe’, according to the press release sent to newsrooms.
In Portugal, it is led by CEiiA and the Air Force, in collaboration with GEOSAT, a company which, alongside Airbus, is one of the two operators of very high-resolution satellites in Europe. The development and construction of the Atlantic Constellation’s very high-resolution satellites is being carried out by NEO, the first Portuguese integrator of very high-resolution satellites.
SOURCE: Mais Guimarães
