Save the Date: Back to School 2024-2025 with ESA and ESERO Inspire article

Satellites are instrumental in monitoring our planet, to understand it, but also to contribute to more sustainable development and to help mitigate effects of climate change. Use real satellite images and other Earth observation data to investigate a local climate or environmental problem. Climate Detectives investigations can focus on climate change but also the environment, sustainable ways of living, biodiversity, air quality, forests, oceans, and much more!

For the younger students, up to 12 years old, there is a dedicated category called Climate Detectives Kids, where teams complete activities related to earth sciences and collect badges to receive a final certificate.

Take on a new space adventurer role with your team and design a habitat on the lunar surface or go beyond the Moon and explore other worlds in our Solar System.

The project can be a scientific experiment, a hands-on project, a design for space infrastructures, a 3D design for an astronaut base, a 3D printing model, a virtual or augmented reality world, and much more. Select the topic and format that best fits the team and get creative!

Astronauts need to be fit and healthy to be able to perform their mission well. It’s time to get up, move your body, and train like an astronaut! In Mission X, students learn the key elements to keeping fit and staying healthy in space and on Earth. They can then complete physical exercises and scientific activities to earn virtual steps with the aim of reaching the Moon!

New this school year: a virtual celebration event will be held for participating teams once Leo and Luna reach the Moon!

Have you ever dreamed of creating a code that could run in space? It’s easier than you think! All you need is to write a computer program for special Raspberry Pi computers, called Astro Pis, which are located on the International Space Station (ISS). In Mission Zero, which is for beginners, students can collect colour and luminosity measurements and create their own pixel art image for the astronauts. For the more advanced Mission Space Lab, there’s an exciting challenge: to write a computer program to measure the speed that the International Space Station (ISS) is travelling as accurately as possible.

Astro Pi is run by ESA, with its ESERO network, in collaboration with the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

CanSat challenges students to fit the key components of a satellite into the volume of a soda can. What’s it like to make a real space project from A to Z? Work in teams to design, build, launch, and operate a CanSat to find out!

National competitions are run annually by each ESERO and other national partners. The national CanSat winning teams are welcomed by ESA at its ESTEC site on 17 and 18 June 2025 for a learning and celebration event: Space Engineer for a Day.