ACTIVITIES :: eTen :: Projects :: Projects of the Month :: D-Space
November 2006 Project of the Month: D-Space
Issues being addressed
Are you interested in watching the Solar Eclipse? Would you like to capture images of the sun, moon or planets in real time? How about observing the meteor showers? It is now all possible with the help of the D-Space project.
The D-Space service integrates robotic telescopes into one virtual observatory and provides the services required to operate this facility, including a scheduling service, tools for data manipulation and access to related educational materials. D-Space is a distributed network of science centers and robotic telescopes accessed by students, educators, researchers and the wider public (e.g. visitors of science parks) via the Internet. A network of robotic telescopes has the advantage that weather is less likely to cancel or delay an observing session if automated telescopes are available in widely different geographical locations.
The D-Space project aims at the deployment of a virtual science thematic park that will connect schools, universities, science museums and parks with a network of robotic telescopes around the world. The project brings to students, teachers, researchers and individuals the opportunity to use remotely controlled robotic telescopes in real time, providing access to unique resources and laboratory of science.
Main objectives of the project
The project aims to pilot the D-Space service with the target users in real environments (e.g. schools, universities, science parks). Therefore, extended trials with users and organisations have been planned and realised in the framework of the project in Greece, UK, France, Austria, Bulgaria and Switzerland. Additionally, users from USA and Israel will also be involved in the validation phase of the service.
The D-Space validation will adapt a tested methodology and implement the validation procedure in situ in a pan-European setting, concentrating on user acceptance and interoperability, which will be a significant input for the final business plan.
The D-Space project will draft a business plan, providing a technical and commercial overview of the value chain of the services and detailing the necessary investments to start the commercial exploitation of the service.
The marketing strategy and the associated short and medium term action plan will be the outcome of the continuous interaction between the consortium and the potential collaborators (content providers, telecommunication services providers, manufacturers and potential investors), which will be part of the business planning process. Numerous workshops, open days and summer schools are organized in this framework in order to introduce the service to the targeted audience.
Service description
Benefits for the users of the D-Space service include:
- on-line access to the network of the robotic telescopes
- access to scientific data and resource archives (data and images)
- access to a central data archive, making use of a common archive and distribution system
- access to educational material and interactive tools
- access to teacher resources
- student-centered materials
- on-line training courses at different levels
- participation in contests (the contests cover the levels of all targeted groups of users, e.g. scientific contests, best science project contests for students, best photo contest for the wider public)
- participation in conferences, workshops and summer schools (the users of the service will have the opportunity to visit the observatories during different events)
- information on specific events (e.g. transit of Mercury or Venus, Solar Eclipse, Comets)
Achievements
Throughout the project’s duration, several events were realized within the framework of D-Space:
- The live transmission of the Total Solar Eclipse of the 29th of March, 2006 which has made the D-Space site very popular, as the site had around 7.000 visits during the eclipse, while since mid-October the site was visited by 16.000 people
- The live transmission of the transit of Comet 73P near Earth from the D-Space web site, 12-14 May, 2006
- The training workshops in CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, June 2006 and in Rozhen, Bulgaria, July 2006
- The dissemination workshop in Larissa, Greece, April 2006
- The SkyWatch 2006 and 2007 Astronomy contests
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Participation and presentation of the project in several conferences, such as:
- the 4th annual Asian Pacific Region Conference (Perth, Australia, May 2006)
- the Xplora Science Teachers Conference (Geneva, Switzerland, June 2006)
- the ECSITE Conference 2006 (Mechelen, Belgium, June 2006)
- the EDEN 2006 Annual Conference (Vienna, Austria, June 2006)
- the 3rd EU eLearning Conference (Helsinki, Finland, July 2006)
- the Euro Science Open Forum (Munich, Germany, July 2006)
- the 45th FITCE International Congress (Athens, Greece, August 2006)
- Several newsletters and articles about the project in scientific magazines (RTD, europhysicsnews)
The D-Space Network is continuously expanding, currently operating 7 robotic telescopes (large, medium and small size) through 4 observatories:
- Liverpool Telescope in La Palma.
- Skinakas Telescope in Crete, with 2 telescopes
- Ellinogermaniki Agogi Telescope in Pallinni, Atiki
- Sea of Galilee Observatory (SGAO), Galilee, Israel
Expected benefits by the end of the project
The project will measure the existing demand and market potential for the D-Space service and its expected benefits for the formal and informal science teaching and learning procedure. The consolidated business plan resulting from this study will help the project partners evaluate the wider deployment potential and future requirements of the service.
Partners
Reference Data
Project's website:
http://www.discoveryspace.net
Contract Type: Market Validation
Start Date: March 2005
End Date: February 2007
Duration: 24 Months
Contact: sotiriou@qplan.gr (Mr. Menelaos Sotiriou)