Students Martyna Michałowska, Michał Bednarek and Jakub Kordaczuk from the Local Earth Observation Observatory, operating at Emilia Plater Secondary School No. 2 in Biała Podlaska, together with their colleagues Magdalena Nowak and Ismena Leśko from the AstroYouth team – a group of secondary school and university students affiliated with the Polish Astrobiological Society – participated in the international VeneToStars Challenge 2026 (https://venetostars.com/). This European initiative is aimed at young innovators and focuses on creating projects that use satellite data and space technologies to solve real-world problems, particularly in the agricultural and food production sectors. Teams of young people from across Europe take part in the competition, and the best ideas are presented at the International Space Meeting Veneto event in Venice.
The team developed a project which was subsequently submitted for evaluation by experts. Their concept is simple: they aim to create an application that will help people without prior experience to interpret remote sensing data. The application would analyse various conditions occurring in agricultural fields and provide users with recommendations regarding, among other things, the placement of irrigation systems. Its operation would be based on satellite data combined with information provided by users, which could contribute to improved crop yields.
I am pleased to announce that the proposal submitted by the LEOO science club has been selected for the final stage of the competition, where the team will have the opportunity to present its idea on an international platform.
This is a particularly significant achievement given the international scale of the competition, as only a small number of the best teams from across Europe are selected for the finals. The finalists have been invited to Venice, where they will present their projects to an international jury, as well as to representatives of the space and agricultural sectors.
The students’ project is the only Polish entry to have advanced to the final stage. The team now faces the challenge of developing the application further and presenting it during the Space Meetings Veneto 2026 conference, which will take place in Venice from 11 to 13 May 2026.
Congratulations, and we wish the team every success in the next stage of the competition!
Science Club Supervisor
Renata Michalczuk
