National Points of Contact
Bulgaria
Rada Popova		Raycho Raychev
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SGAC Bulgaria

Bulgaria initiated its space programme officially in 1969, when the “Central Laboratory for Space Research” at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences was created. Subsequently, the country’s space programme has had many achievements. The Bulgarian space programme has been involved in numerous international projects such as Intercosmos, Space station Mir, and the International Space Station. Bulgaria has had two cosmonauts who flew in space. Furthermore, the country’s science community has created the first successful automated space greenhouses and space food for cosmonauts.
In the last 20 years, the Bulgarian space programme has been faced with financial issues and with the lack of strong domestic interest to proceed with its development. As a result, many young professionals have left the country and are currently working in leading space companies and organisations abroad. There remains a need for consolidating the whole Bulgarian space sector.  We hope that SGAC in Bulgaria can help with this so please join us!
ESA and Bulgaria: In June 2011 ESA’s Council decided to grant Bulgaria with an observer status alongside the other 9 states that are members of the EU but not of ESA: Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia.

Young Space Activities Overview in Bulgaria

Despite the domestic challenges, there are many young Bulgarians who try to pursue careers in the space sector in Bulgaria. After its launch in 2010, being the biggest space sciences outreach program in Eastern Europe, Space Challenges was organised also in 2011.  During the program we organized live lectures, workshops, video-conferences with representatives from the global space community – NASA, ESA, UN OOSA, CNES, Stuttgart Technical University, MIT, Singularity University, Oxford University, University of Copenhagen.
The core topics presented at the lectures included infrared astronomy, human spaceflight, synthetic biology in space, space medicine, small satellites, launching systems and new propulsion concepts, space applications of exponential technologies, planetary physics and space law. Among the lecturers were Prof. Hans-Peter Röser from the Institute for Space Systems at the Stuttgart University of Technology, who personally attended the opening ceremony of the program and held two lectures, and US astronaut Dr. Story Musgrave.
We are looking forward to the third edition of Space Challenges also in 2012.

Country-Specific Events in 2012

• Space Challenges
• A new project is launched for 2012 – the Ultimate Space Book. The Space Challenges program team developed and successfully initiated project bid for building space laboratories in Bulgaria for educational purposes – ground station, concurrent design facility, ground support lab, etc. Please support the project and become a member of the Space Book Society with some great treats!

Interesting Web Links for the Young Generation in Bulgaria:

Space Challenges ProgrammeBulgarian Science MagazineSpace Research Institute

Studies

Sofia University Center For Space Research and Technologies