Hello EUROAVIAns! This month we had less time to do activities because of Easter and the Feria de Abril, but we still managed to do some interesting things.
We had the opportunity to visit the Royal Navy Institute and Observatory, located in the city of San Fernando, Cádiz, Spain. It is one of the oldest scientific centers in Spain, which also has a large scientific library and is in charge of keeping the time in Spain.
The visit began with a talk in front of the main building. Immediately afterwards they took us to an old telescope that is no longer in use, whose objective was to build a part of the celestial map in collaboration with other observatories. They also showed us the sheets that were used for the negatives.
After this, we were taken to the High Tower, a medieval construction. It is the oldest building in the complex, and it was there before the construction of the Observatory. It was about to be torn down, but in the end, it was used to house an optical telegraph.
Later, we went to the part that is in charge of time. They showed us a sundial that was outside and, once inside the building, they showed us the most interesting thing in that sector: the three atomic clocks that give time to Spain.
Finally, we accessed the main building, which is full of old gadgets used for celestial observation and navigation. In addition, the building also has a huge scientific library, which has works by great scientists such as Newton, Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus and many more.
We traveled again to Cádiz (San Roque this time) to know a little bit more about how the 74th Air Defense Artillery Regiment works with missiles.
We received a very warm welcome and were shown a huge warehouse and some of the workshops where they repair all the machinery related to the Hawk and Patriot missiles. After the visit, they offered us some food and drinks and we could talk and ask curiosities to the military.
Taking advantage of the good weather, we decided to spend some time on the beach before going back to Sevilla.
Also, this semester an airplane workshop and a rocket workshop are being given by two of our Local Board members and we will go through the results next month.
These are some of the last activities that our Local Group is doing because we see the exams period getting closer, and we can already say that it was a fantastic year full of new experiences and lots of things learned.
See you around Europe!
AS Sevilla