Last Day at ESA PAC Symposium

After a wonderful week the last day of the symposium arrived much to early. The thursday began with presentations, as usual. Some really nice ones given by REXUS teams, and also one given by Mark from DLR regarding REXUS/BEXUS seen from a long term perspective, were held.

After the last presentation all conference participants went out to a vineyard, about 15 min from the center of Hyères, for the closing dinner.  We first gathered in the garden where vine and snacks were served and everyone mingled around. We then went in to the dining hall to eat a nice four course dinner with. I must admit that I really liked the fish main course.

The dinner was over much to soon and the only thing that remained was to say goodbye to everyone. This however was very sad and a bit chaotic and some of us therefore decided to move on to a hotel bar. Here the night ended with that Mark was thrown in to the hotel pool.

We have really had a great week down in france with many friands. Sitting here at home it really does feel sad, not only for leaving the nice sunny weather behind, but mainly due to that we will miss all the friends we have made during our time in REXUS/BEXUS. No matter how much learnt, and what cool stuff have been experienced, the friends we have made during the program will always be the first thing thought of when thinking back on the time of REXUS/BEXUS.

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Another Hard Day in the REXUS Programme

Today started of a bit better then the day before considering the additional 75% of sleep. The morning was spent listening on different interesting presentations given at the symposium followed by the usual great lunch at the Casino. After lunch it was finally time for us to get some time to enjoy our surroundings. All participants were shipped out on the island of  Porquerolles where the groups was divided. I and David joined some other REXUS/BEXUS students, Adam and Helen on a bike trip to the closest beach. Well at the beach we enjoyed the wonderful water of the Mediterranean, some ice creams at the beach and the lovely  sun. Much to soon it was time to head back for the boat but we still had time for a beer before. Well back at the main land everything happened very quickly since there was a REXUS/BEXUS event planned immediately we did not get time enough to go home and shower which made the dress code very relaxed. This was not a problem though since everyone were in the same situation. Me and David goth our diplomas and then a group photo was taken. We then finally could make it back to the hotel for a shower before the evening continued with beers at the same bar as monday night. Tomorrow will be the last day of the symposium and will end with a vineyard dinner so we are looking forward to that.

Presentation and Tour of the City

So after the very nice evening yesterday we did not get many hours of sleep until it was time to be on place for the days lectures. Today was actually the day of our own presentation which we performed at 9:20 this morning, we received some great comments after it so we assume it went well. There where also other teams presenting today like M-BEAM and CASS-E. After a day full of valuable conversations in the exhibition hall it was time for the tour of the city. The guide took us through the old town and showed us many nice views. It all ended up on the mountain where drinks and snacks were served. The day ended with dinner at the restaurant in old town where we had beers the first night. Now we´re getting to bed to catch up on some sleep.

First day of the ESA symposium

Today was the first official day of the ESA symposium. We, me and David, started of with a short breakfast and then left for the symposium with the experiment with us. Since the experiment was wrapped in my clothes in my bag during the trip here a plastic bag had to do for the transportation to the symposium. Well att the symposium it started of with four and a half hours of loooong presentations covering the national reports of the states participating in the conference. At lunch a great three course meal was served but unfortunately someone had underestimated the time needed for everyone to eat so we were half an hour after schedule after lunch. The afternoon was spent watching some of the other REXUS teams presenting their results as well as the MARWEL team who are part of the upcoming BEXUS mission. We also had to spend some time preparing our selves for our presentation tomorrow. Last on the schedule for the day was a “Icebreaker” with great wine and some snacks. Of course the REXUS BEXUS teams were not satisfied but instead continued the night with beers at a bar…

Saint Troppez

Today we used the morning to write on the article we´re presenting on tuesday and which in not yet ready. After 12 we decided to go with Peggy to Sain Troppez. It’s a one hour trip there with amazing looking roads among the hills. Well there we looked on the Yachts, the village and took a guided boat tour to get to see as much as possible during the three hours we had there. The weather was great but now when I´m writing this it is a thunder storm outside…

Tonight   we are going to the first event of the symposium, enjoy the pictures!

Arrival to Hyères France

Since this is the first blog post for quite a while I´ll just take some time to mention what we have been doing over the spring. As most of you already know we came home from launch late february and immediately started with the data analysis. Since most of us had some catch up to do in  different courses and thesis works there have not been as much time for SQUID as there used to be. But we have been on a few outreach event (I´ll attach some pictures) and I and david were also at the RAIN team´s tow/drop test to help out.

So with that said, lets continue with what we are up to now.  Early yesterday morning I, Gustav, and David took took us out to Arlanda airport to catch the plane towards Paris leaving at 6:50. Well in Paris, standing at the baggage belt, we hear a familiar voice, it turns out to be Paggy from the RAIN team who are also going to Hyères for the symposium.

Next task was to take us from Charles de Gaulle to Orly which turned out to be not as easy as it may sound. It ended up with tus waiting for one hour for the bus to take us there which makes us realize why you need so much time in order to get in between the airports. Well at Orly, after a short lunch, the travel continued to Hyères/Toulon where the sun and palm trees greeted us. To bad though that we once again ended up waiting one hour in order to take the bus from the aiport to the center of Hyères, if we just had know the beach was just around further down the street the waiting would have been much more pleasant.

The bus took us in to the center where the next adventure was to try to find the way to the hotel, after asking around and trying to understand the french (okay i admit I should know french after living in Belgium for six years but I don´t) we actually did find our way. After some rest we met up with Peggy again for dinner, well in town we met up with the SSC and SNSB personell who first took us to a plaza in old town for beers and then to a nice restaurant for dinner.

Beers in old town

Hyèeres

RAIN successful drop test

RAIN tow test

RAIN tow test

RAIN tow test

RAIN tow test

Outreach at Mikaleskolan

Outreach at Aerodate

Outreach at Aerodate

Outreach at Aerodate

Will from RAIN is awarded the rocket scientist of the year

Will from RAIN is awarded the rocket scientist of the year

Outreach at Mälardalen högskola

Outreach at Mälardalen högskola

Outreach at Mälardalen högskola

Outreach at Mälardalen högskola

At project destination event

Outreach at project destination event