The Spanish Minister of Science and Technology visited the EST Headquarters. It is one of the very few on-site meetings that we had this semester, since most gatherings went online
Spanish Minister of Science and Technology (front right) visited the EST Headquarters and was briefed by members of the EST Project Office.
With a few exceptions, COVID-19 has transformed many scientific and stakeholder meetings into online editions. One of those few rarities was the visit, in July this year, of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, Pedro Duque. A former ESA astronaut, Duque visited the IACTEC building in La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain), where the EST Project Office is located.
During his visit, he met some of the EST staff, who briefed him about the science goals and technological challenges of the telescope, as well as the current state of the project. Alejandra Martín, EST Project Manager, Carlos Quintero, EST Support Scientist, and Miguel Núñez, EST Systems Engineer, were the ones in charge of guiding him through the telescope specifics.
National scientific meetings go online
It was the only face-to-face meeting in a semester otherwise dominated by online events. Two of those were national gatherings: the XIV.0 Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society and the 106 National Congress of the Italian Physical Society (SIF).
The Spanish Astronomical Society transformed its XIV annual meeting in an online one. This society brings together more than 800 astronomy professionals and intends to be an independent forum for discussing all sort of topics related to Astronomy and Astrophysics in Spain.
The online edition was held in July this year, with a special focus on the current and future scientific projects that will concentrate the efforts of the community for the next decade.
The online edition was held in July this year, with a special focus on the current and future scientific projects that will concentrate the efforts of the community for the next decade. EST Support Scientist Carlos Quintero gave an overview of the most recent developments of the European Solar Telescope during an Astrophysics section coordinated by another EST scientist, Luis Bellot. Both the PDF and the recording of the session are available online (his intervention starts at 03:10).
Prof Franceso Brilli highlited the Italian contribution to EST during the 106th National Congress of the Italian Physical Society (SIF)
Also online was the 106th National Congress of the Italian Physical Society (SIF), held in September. The event gathered together about 600 Italian physicists from different areas (from Archaeometry to Biophysics to Astrophysics), who shared their projects towards finding comon ground and synergies.
For the Astrophysics track, Francesco Berrilli was invited to introduce the European Solar Telescope to the Italian community. The video of the presentation, which highlights the Italian scientific and technological contributions to the project, is available online (he appears from minute 33 onwards). The PDF is also available.
BSBF21 online seminar
The European Solar Telescope is one of the Affiliated Big Science Organisation of the Big Science Business Forum 2021. This biennial event, initially scheduled for September this year in Granada (Spain), had to be postponed due to the health crisis. In the meantime, the organization is setting up several webinars to keep the momentum and foster business opportunities and collaborations between science organisations and the European industry.
EST Systems Engineer Miguel Núñez participated in the second of those webinars, held on October 8-9, 2020, together with organisations like CERN, EMBL, ESA, ESO, and ESRF, and representatives of several European technology companies. Núñez gave an overview of the current situation of the European Solar Telescope, highlighting the upcoming procurements and business opportunities. The webinar was recorded, and Núñez's presentation is available here.
EST system engineer Miguel Núñez participated in the second Big Science Business Forum webinar