On the 4th of October the opening event of the Space Cognition Center (KIC) took place in Cēsis continuing with a two-day opening celebration to public on 7th and 8th of October. KIC will offer students to foster interest in STEM subjects, educators to learn new methods of teaching STEM subjects, and families to spend meaningful time together. Center visitors will get an idea of how much our daily processes, scientific achievements, inventions, human talents are connected to space exploration and will explore the wide career and business development opportunities provided by the space industry.
In February 2023, the KIC building, located in Cēsis, Cīrulīšu Street 63, was comissioned. One of the main goals of the construction project was to construct a new, sustainable and energy self-sufficient building. Solar panels are installed on the roof of the building which provide enough electricity for all the needs of the center. Yearly energy consumption level is planned to be 15 kWh/m2 making the building a low energy consumption construction. The main heat carrier is a heat pump with a total installed capacity of 70kW. Two pellet heating boilers with a total capacity of 120 kW have been installed for hot water production. Hot water tanks and storage tanks were installed. A facility for the secondary use of rainwater, which will be collected from the roof of the building, was installed. Underground tanks have been built outside, where this rainwater is purified and then fed into the building for secondary use to the sanitary facilities.
The building operates smart control solutions for the management of both electricity and heat consumption. In addition, a parking lot with 53 spaces has been built next to the center, as well as four bilateral fast charging stations for eight electric cars and one bus charging station.
The building construction project was implemented by the municipality of Cēsis county with the financing of the Emission Allowance Auction Instrument (EKII) of the Latvian state budget program. The total cost of the project is 11 354 188 euros, of which the eligible costs of the project are 10 065 642 euros, of which EKII funds are no more than 49.67% of the eligible costs, not exceeding 5 000 000 euros.
Upon entering the center, visitors will have the opportunity to check how energy is produced by walking on the step generator production floor while simultaneously monitoring the amount of energy produced on the screen. Such floor is the largest installed in Europe.
Next, the visitor will go through the tunnel of the history of human exploration in order to get an impression of how science, engineering and society itself have developed starting from prehistory gaining the understanding that man has always been interested in space, studied it until nowadays until has developed the opportunity to go and explore it. Also on this floor visitors can view various models of space-related objects – rockets, robots, rovers, satellites, rocket engines, etc.
The center’s second-floor content is designed with an emphasis on STEM and is more interactive and based on performing various tasks. Part of the second-floor exposition is about colonizing Mars, where it will be shown how STEM knowledge would help survive on another planet. Self-made exhibits will show the visitor how purification of the organic waste can provide important resources for long-term survival, how to produce electricity, oxygen and fuel while on another planet, while avoiding radiation and other limiting factors. The 3rd floor of the space center is planned to be more active – there will be an opportunity to experience how astronauts train, there will also be a play corner for the smallest visitors and a gallery of space objects.
The main and biggest exhibit of KIC will be the International Space Station, which was built on two floors as a replica of the real one and named “Auseklis”. On the first floor of the space station visitors will be able to get to know the astronauts during their daily stay on missions in space, while on the second floor, the space station will be connected to the mission control center and visitors in pairs will have the opportunity to play several space missions by themselves.
The content of the KIC is created within the project “Establishment of an Innovation Center in Cēsis” with the support of the European Economic Area financial instrument and the Norwegian financial instrument 2014 – 2021 program “Research and education” activity “Innovation centers”. The total cost of this project is 2,15 million euros, of which 1,64 million euros are co-financed by the Norwegian financial instrument, 289 825 euros are co-financed by the Latvian state budget, and 214 684 euros are co-financed by the municipality of Cēsis county.
The center is expected to be visited by up to 100 000 people a year. More information about the center is available on www.kosmosacentrs.lv and Facebook page.
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