Young Latin Americans highlight the Cosmonauts Olympiad in Panama (+ photos)

In an interview with Prensa Latina in the middle of the “Training as an Astronaut” exercise, some of the participants, such as El Salvador Miguel Doradia, highlighted the composition of the study groups, made up of representatives from more than 18 countries on the continent.

He said that OLAA is unique, as it allows you to mingle and exchange knowledge with students from other countries, learn about their cultures and traditions as well as deepen space sciences together.

As part of World Space Week, until next Friday, the event welcomes 127 participants from 18 countries in the region, where students will demonstrate and apply their knowledge of astronomy, astronautics and related sciences.

Students come from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela and Panama, as the host country.

Argentinian Mateo Inza, of the Agricultural Institute of San Miguel del Monte, revealed in this news outlet that confinement due to Covid-19 allowed him to be in a modest small town of 30,000 people to study what piqued his curiosity. “When you look at the sky, they are all questions,” he said.

In this sense, he trained with the physics teacher Pedro Sublet, and he was one of the winners of the Argentine Astronomy Olympiad, which is why he is here, like the rest of the participants; And in his case, it would be the only time,” because in my country — he explained — “In every OLAA edition, there are new young talents being selected for this amazing opportunity.”

With effort and dedication, the Isthmus will one day have an astronaut, another of her dreams, said Clarice Herrera of Panama, of the Cultural Institute.

He commented on this with many predictions that, other than who gets the best results from this exchange, for example, tests of observing the planet, the use of a telescope to distinguish the stars will be the most challenging.

Francisco Gonzalez, who is attending as an observer on behalf of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Cuba, also noted that in the near future students from this Caribbean country will attend this summit event for space science, which allows to bridge the gaps between the rich north and the underdeveloped south.

Another observer, Honduran astrophysicist Norman Palma, of the National Autonomous University, highlighted the organization of the event and the idea of ​​defending the values ​​of complementarity.

OLAA is organized by the National Secretary for Science, Technology and Innovation, the City of Knowledge and the National Space Science Center of Panama.

The president of the first institution, Eduardo Ortega, noted that this type of Olympiad, founded in Uruguay in 2008, encourages interest in science and promotes curiosity, which is a key position for any scientist.

Madeleine Rojas, President of OLAA, emphasized at the same time that she is proud to bring together young people from Latin America determined to take on challenges such as solving rockets, astronomical observations, robotics and circuit challenges.

Omani Rial / Ga