From the 26th to the 28th of June, the fourth symposium on Applied Satellite Earth Observation, organized by the DLR took place in Bonn and some of the current EAGLE generation did not miss the opportunity to make a fun trip to the former capital of Germany.

From Monday to Wednesday, they got great insights on current research and advances in Earth Observation. Interesting panel discussions, keynote speakers and presentations on ongoing projects were on the agenda, a big highlight being also the setting of the conference: the World Conference Center with the former Bundestag parliament as plenary hall.

Among all the great talks and discussion, especially the Spacewhale project (Bio Consult SH GmbH) made an impression, in which AI is used to detect and track whale species based on worldview data. Also, the eyes on Plastic project (EOMAP) presentation offered valuable insights on one of ESAs Business Applications and on a multi-sensor approach to track aquatic plastic litter up to a global scale.

With Sebastian Förtsch, a PhD candidate from the Department of Remote Sensing in Würzburg (who also contributed to the conference with a poster about his research) and other staff members, they further enjoyed the well-organized event, the great food and the opportunity to meet new people working in the field of Earth Observation.

Since the young EAGLEs chose to stay at a campsite, they even got to experience Bonn and its surrounding in a special way and filled their time around the symposium by strolling through the city or joining a pub quiz event at a lovely Irish pub.

With some great memories and impressions and (hopefully) a little inspiration they now returned to Würzburg to continue and complete the rest of the summer semester.