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JUNE IS ASTEROID MONTH

ASTEROID DAY HIGHLIGHTED EVENT

KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT

The College of Health Sciences in Kuwait hosted an exciting and educational Asteroid Day event.

The day included a number of astronomy lectures. Dr. Ismail Sabbah presented on the history of the solar system, near-Earth asteroids, and significant asteroid impacts such as Tunguska and Chelyabinsk. Dr. Ali Khuraibet presented on the dangers of space debris and ways scientists are working to solve the problem.

There was also an exhibition with booths hosted by students of the college, other colleges and some Kuwaiti associations.

You can read more about the day here.

ASTEROID DAY
HIGHLIGHTED COMMUNITY MEMBER

MICHEL TOGNINI

Michel Tognini is a French astronaut.

He served as a fighter pilot and a test pilot in French Air Force and has 4,500 flight hours on 80 types of aircraft. Tognini made his first space flight on board the Soyuz TM-15, TM-14 (July 27 to August 10, 1992). He linked up with Mir 1, spent 14 days carrying out a program of joint Soviet-French experiments. Tognini flew aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-93 (July 22-27, 1999), as a Mission Specialist, to assist in the deployment of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

He is a signer of the 100x Declaration and recently spoke to a class of Indian students about space exploration and his time as an astronaut. The class sent him this wonderful thank you gift.

In 2003, Brigadier General Tognini was appointed Head of the Astronaut Division at the European Astronaut Center (EAC), Cologne, Germany. In 2005, he was appointed Head of the European Astronaut Centre. He came back to France in November 2011, and became the president of the GAMA (Groupe Aéronautique du Ministere del Air); he continued to participate to studies linked to Human Space Mission to Mars or to asteroids. He is President of Space conseil and expert APM (Association Progrès du Management).

ASTEROID DAY EXPERT PANEL (ADXP) HIGHLIGHTED MEMBER

DR. CLARK CHAPMAN

Dr. Chapman is a planetary scientist whose research has specialized in studies of asteroids and cratering of planetary surfaces, using telescopes, spacecraft, and computers.

He is a past Chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society and was the first editor of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. He is a winner of the DPS’s Carl Sagan Award for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Sciences. Clark has been on the science teams of the Galileo, Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR-Shoemaker), and MESSENGER missions.

He has undergraduate, Master’s, and PhD degrees from Harvard (astronomy), M.I.T. (meteorology), and M.I.T. (planetary science), respectively. For many years he was at the Planetary Science Institute (SAIC) in Tucson, and he has recently retired from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, where he worked since 1996.

ASTEROID DAY HIGHLIGHTED SPONSOR

EURO-COMPOSITES

We are proud to announce Euro-Composites as an Asteroid Day sponsor this year.

Euro-Composites is a leading global player in the field of high-quality and sophisticated composite materials. They serve customers from all over the world with innovative products and technologies.

The space industry is a cornerstone of their innovation and business development strategy. Since 2017, they have invested in a facility entirely dedicated to the space industry. It has a high precision 5-axis CNC-machine and one of the largest cleanrooms in Europe used for space applications. Together with their press- and autoclave technology, NDT testing equipment, and research and development facility, Euro-Composites offers a complete infrastructure for the space industry.