Some get their name up in lights, but others manage higher ambitions and young Irish artist Adam Vaughan will soon have his name literally out of this world - in Earth orbit 22,000 kilometres up.
Adam (10), from Swords, Co Dublin, won an art competition organised by the European Commission with an unusual prize. He will now have a satellite named after him, one of the 30 being put into orbit between now and 2019 as part of the Galileo Satellite Programme.
Galileo is a European replacement for the existing GPS satellite positioning system and will see a network of satellites put into orbit for an expected 30 years.
Children in all of the 27 EU countries were invited to enter the competition based on the theme, "Space and Aeronautics". Adam's entry, The Solar System, captured the Irish prize and he will now have a very personal interest in at least one of the satellites.
“I am very excited that a satellite is going to be floating around with my name on it,” Adam said yesterday at a presentation where he received a certificate and a trophy to mark his win.
His parents were delighted with his success. “We are extremely proud of him,” his father Keith said yesterday. “He is keen on art and has been doing art since he was a baby.”
More than 200 entries were submitted for the Irish competition, said Mr David Moore, editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine. He judged the entries along with artist and TV presenter Don Conroy and by Joan Flanagan of the European Commission office in Dublin.
It will cost €100 million to build and launch the satellites and with operational costs over the coming three decades Galileo will cost 10 times as much, Mr Moore said.
So aside from having his name in orbit, Adam is now part of a €1 billion international endeavour - not bad at all for a 10-year-old.
