18. April 2001

Idea, concept and goals of spacecity salzburg Space as playground for creativity, individuality and originality.

The youth competition spacecity salzburg was called into being to open up the growing generation the possibility of outlining - within the context of a real space mission - its thoughts regarding the future of space travel and the future of humankind. Starting point was the consideration to give active creation and production precedence over passive listening to lectures or presentations.



In order to avoid starting a oversized project without any standard of comparison, the area of the competition was limited to the Austrian federal state of Salzburg. With more than 350 schools of all different types and ten thousands of pupils the general set-up was huge anyway.

Perhaps the most difficult task the small project team had to face was the motivation of all the children,youngsters and teachers in order to take part in this competition. But this task was made easier by two facts: On the one hand, astronomy and space travel attract children of all ages (as well as grown up persons) in a special way. The fascination of "adventure", of "infinity" and of "mystery" seems to be still unbroken and was for sure an important (psychological) factor of success. On the other hand, it was the professional LunarSat mission which made the children participating. Indeed it is not an everyday possibility to be able to take part in a real space mission - even if one is not directly involved. The close connection between the mission and Austria was helpful for the communication between the two teams. So all in all the key factors of spacecity salzburg were perfectly suitable for approaching the participants at the schools with a mixture of excitement and eager expectation.

 A project like this cannot function without a clear concept. Insofar it was important and helpful to interact with the heads of the LunarSat PO/E-division who were able to give useful hints for planning the organisational matters. After the whole competition was finished, a schools headmaster explained why he was participating with his entire school (16 classes with more than 400 pupils in total): "My teachers and I, we were taken with the well thought-out concept and the professionalism this competition was advertised and carried through with. You could even feel the ambition and the dedication of the organisers, and we all said to each other: This is a great thing, we have to take part."

The second key success factor was the good cooperation with both the media and the famous museum "Haus der Natur" in Salzburg. It was impressive to see how hundreds of children were reached by newspaper articles and radio spots - children who otherwise may had never even heard of spacecity salzburg. Public relations are the key factor to an exhaustive advertisement and by this to the success of an event like this. The support of the "Haus der Natur" was decisive as well. Only the commitment and involvement of HR Prof. Dr. Stüber and his team made it possible presenting the members of spacecity salzburg not as "nobodies" but as a team working in close cooperation with this famous institution. Thus, valuable time was saved.

Spacecity salzburg was made a finished performance by more than 50 multi-media-shows which were presented by the team in front of 2000 pupils in the whole state of Salzburg, and by the obligate final prize giving ceremony. This meeting of all the prize winning pupils, the organisers, the sponsors, the guests of honour and all the voluntaries within the unique setting of the Haus der Natur "space hall" was a conclusion to remember

The striking number of 3500 participants, which until today impresses all those having worked for spacecity salzburg, shell serve as a confirmation that within this project fascination, professional organisation and ambition as well as a good portion of optimism were combined in a unique way.

Thanks to all the people involved. Alexander Soucek