Cyprus to Participate in NASA Space Apps Challenge

Cyprus will take part, for the third consecutive year, in the NASA SpaceApps Challenge 2015. The program brings together people of diverse scientific background in an attempt to address engineering issues through specific challenges. According to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), this year’s event will take place in various cities around the world, among which is Limassol. The event in the coastal Cypriot town is scheduled for 4 and 5 April, at the premises of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). The organizing team of CUT are engineering students Yiannis Papazoglou, Andria Christodoulou, Panayiota Kyriakou, Antigoni Tsiarta, Nicoletta Tsiarta, Giorgos Psaras and Christos Panayiotou who is the representative of the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation (CSEO) at the organization committee. In an interview with CNA, the members of the organizing committee noted that the contest is very popular around the world because it provides researchers with a great opportunity to get involved with real missions of the US NASA. The applications created during the Space Apps competitions involve various fields such as planetary exploration, exploitation of resources from asteroids, environmental protection, warnings of weather phenomena, monitoring seismic activity and volcanic activity. More than 200 contestants are expected to participate at the Cypriot event (Limassol SpaceApps Challenge), while the first two winners of the Limassol competition will represent the country at the NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The Cypriot project “MarsSense,” which was the winner of the Space Apps Limassol 2013, was given the second international award in the category People’s Choice Award of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The Cypriot team of “MarsSense” was invited in 2014 to the biggest space conference, called Space Ops, which is organized by NASA. Similarly, the Greek project “Popeye on Mars,” which won the Space Apps Challenge Athens 2013, ranked first in the International Space Apps Challenge in the category Best Mission Concept.

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Acropolis of Athens Was Built to Withstand Earthquakes, Engineers Say

“This is an incredible construction, using ingenious solutions to insurmountable engineering and construction problems,” said Professor of Civil Engineering Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Kyriazis Pitilakis describing the Acropolis and the Parthenon. The question of how the Acropolis structures and the Parthenon in particular have survived so many earthquakes in 2,500 years has puzzled scientists and engineers for years. Researching the secret of the “perfect seismic behavior” of the Parthenon and the Acropolis in general, the conclusion is that the buildings were designed ingeniously in order to be protected from earthquakes. “The Parthenon condenses all that Greece is and all that it has offered to the Western World in the best way. It stands as a symbol of European culture, a symbol of the principle of measure, of art, technology and human capability. This is because that other than the highest artistic creation, it is also a marvel of mechanical engineering,” said Pitilakis during the opening of the workshop on “Contemporary Interventions in the Athenian Acropolis Monuments” organized by the Department of Civil Engineering, under the Graduate program for Antiseismic Construction Planning. “The modular columns, other than the fact that they were made to be constructed and transported more easily, they are designed so that they have excellent seismic performance properties,” he said. Furthermore, the Acropolis structures do not have serious static problems, according to Vasiliki Eleftheriou, architect, Director of Acropolis Monuments Restoration Service (YSMA), a Special Service of the Greek Culture Ministry, composed of 180 specialists. “Right now we can say that we have solved all static problems, even on the Parthenon, which is a large monument. There are still areas we didn’t have to intervene,” Eleftheriou said.

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