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Belgium's Space Expert Jean-Pierre Contzen Visits NCKUTAINAN, Taiwan --(Business Wire)-- Jean-Pierre Contzen, the Chairman of the Board of the von Kármán Institute (VKI) for Fluid Dynamics in Rhode St Genèse, Belgium, visited National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), southern Taiwan, April 17, to facilitate understanding and international cooperation. He gave a talk on "The life of Theodor von Karman and the transformation of the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics: how Science evolved in the troubled Europe of the last Century. Lessons to be learned?" NCKU President Hwung-Hweng Hwung welcomed Contzen and mentioned that NCKU signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) with VKI in 2012 as part of its efforts to enhance international academic cooperation in aeronautics and astronautics. Contzen who visited NCKU for the first time said that he was very impressed by the scope of activities in the universityand the international component of training for the students. "We have established cooperation in the field of mini satellite in the QB50 Project which is a network of 50 small satellites in space approved by the European Commission in 2012," according to Contzen, "and the mini satellite your university made is very interesting which is dealing with the attitude control." "The mini satellites, CubeSats, have two advantages. One is cheap and the other one is that you can increase student development in forming the satellite so it is more interesting from students' point of view," noted Contzen. NCKU is the first university in Taiwan to join the QB50 project, according to Jiun-Jih Miau, professor of Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a team member of the project. Miau also indicated, "CubeSat is an opportunity for the academic community to participate in the space technology development because it is small and economical." "NCKU is probably the most advanced in terms of the CubeSat technology among the universities in Taiwan," according to Miau who also mentioned that with the joint efforts in the interdisciplinary fields, NCKU is going to develop a CubeSat technology center. "It will focus on the miniaturized technology and serve as a platform for international cooperation as well," he added. Contzen is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of the von Kármán Institute for Fluid Dynamics and President of the Russian Scientific Foundation "Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre " in Saint Petersburg.
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