Romanian Space Initiative

Romanian Space Initiative is a Non-Governmental Organisation that came to life thanks to unique and passionate people that converged towards one goal: developing the Romanian Space Ecosystem

The mission of ROSPIN is to develop the Romanian Space Ecosystem through various activities such as educational programmes, hands-on technical projects and workshops, competitions and challenges, as well as community events.

Our vision is to create a united community of individuals with similar aspirations regarding the space sector. ROSPIN has 4 main pillars: education, technology, challenges and community. Our projects are strongly aligned with them.

EDUCATION – ROSPIN has two ongoing projects which are bringing space education closer to university and high school students in Romania: ROSPIN Academy and ROSPIN School.

ROSPIN Academy is at its 3rd edition and has already seen over 350 students enrolled and over 150 certified across the first two editions. ROSPIN Academy covers everything from the basics of the space sector to the subsystem design of a satellite to the opportunity to be part of a hands-on mission design exercise. This educational programme is delivered with the support and involvement of local space companies and it brings together speakers from across Europe and the world.

EDUCATION – ROSPIN School combines the passion and know-how of high school teachers in Romania with the experience of space professionals, in order to make space education available to every high school student across the country. ROSPIN School took place for the first time in the spring of 2022 and in enjoyed great success at a national level with over 300 participants from over 20 counties. In the end over 150 pupils divided in 30 teams managed to deliver a Lunar Rover design in less than 8 weeks. The second edition will take place in the spring of 2023.

TECHNOLOGY – ROSPIN started from a hands-on CubeSat project, which is now known as ROSPIN-SAT-1. This project has been running since the fall of 2020 and its vision is to give University students from Romania the opportunity to experience the rigors of developing a space project under ECSS guidelines in order to prepare them for the space sector. With a team of around 30 students and a mission focused on Earth Observation, the project has reached the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) stage. The team has applied to be part of the 2022-2024 ESA Design Booster cohort.

TECHNOLOGY – ROSPIN CanSat is our secondary hands-on project which is meant to give undergraduate students from Romania the
chance to go through the complete design, build, and test process of a small satellite in a single academic year. ROSPIN is a national partner with the newly formed World CanSat/Rocketry Championship (WCRC) and we have sent our team to the 2022 competition in September. ROSPIN CanSat came in 2nd in a field of 12 teams, 8 of which were present in person in Serbia. For 2023 our goal is to organize the national phase of the WCRC competition.

TECHNOLOGY – In the context of the ROSPIN-SAT-1 Earth Observation (EO) CubeSat mission, we have started the ROSPIN EO team which aims to build technical skills related to collecting, using and processing satellite data. The main theme tackled by our team is to use satellite imagery to build an application that can provide useful insights and predict the impact of reforestation in urban areas for
improving air quality.

The ROSPIN EO team has participated in several hackatons so far, with an excellent 3rd place nationwide and 79/800+ worldwide obtained at the 2022 Women in Data Science (WiDS) Datathon. Moreover, our core team has been selected to present their solution (greenifY.ai) regarding urban area reforestation at ESTEC as part of the Copernicus Masters competition.

CHALLENGES- After participating in several hackathons, we decided to start our own series through the Romanian Space Challenge.

Romanian Space Challenge is a competition intended for those interested in the space field from Romania, which addresses current problems of humanity. It is co-organized by ROSPIN, AIM Space and Initium Space Consulting, within the InnOrbit project.

In the first edition, which will take place between October 14-16, the subject ‘Space Technologies for Society’ and aims the development of concepts using space technologies to help improve the quality of life of those in the participating cities.