The 4th SPACE::LAB summer school took place

Between August 22 to 24, the “SPACE::LAB summer school” was held in Košice for the fourth time. 20 people interested in space research and information technology met in the premises of the Institute of Experimental Physics SAS. This year’s topic “Merging Space & IT“, had the task of networking people, know-how, skills and ideas from the domain of space research and the IT sector.

“I think that the main task of this year went very well,” said Šimon Mackovjak from the Department of Space Physics, IEP SAS. “The background of the participants was really wide, they came from six different universities or research institutions and from five different private companies. However, everyone was united by a high interest in space and the most modern IT approaches.”

During the first two days, the participants could learn how to optimize the demanding computer simulations that are needed in galactic astrophysics. They also adopted machine learning techniques for automatic detection of TLE phenomena (Transient luminous events) from the AMOS all-sky cameras data. The third day of the summer school was dedicated to the solution of specific projects, which allowed the participants to consolidate the acquired knowledge in a very practical way.

“Slovakia will officially become an associate member of the European Space Agency (ESA) in the next few weeks. This will open up a lot of opportunities for young, smart people. I believe that this summer school also helped young people to learn about the wide range of possibilities offered by modern space research, which is carried out in Slovakia.” added the space physicist.