Andriana to be the name of Cyprus satellite

The name of a local student –Andriana – will be given to a satellite to be sent to space in the coming years as part of the EU’s satellite navigation system, Galileo.

Schoolgirl Andriana Yiallourou , 10, won a national drawing competition with her drawing entitled “Exploring Space”.

A total of 800 students, aged 9-11 participated in the competition.

The Minister of Communications and Works Efthymios Flourentzos presented Andriana with her award in a ceremony that took place on Tuesday in Nicosia.
He said that the first satellites sent to space in 2011 were given the names of students from Bulgaria and Belgium who won the drawing competitions.

National competitions will take place in all EU member states for the 27 satellites.

Flourentzos referred to Cyprus’ participation in the European Space Agency, noting that the academic community in Cyprus and the economy as a whole will mostly benefit from this cooperation.

Galileo is a satellite navigation system currently being built by the European Union and European Space Agency.
The 20 billion euro project is expected to be completed by 2019.