The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games drew to a close this weekend, and chances are that you have picked up at least a few of the many disciplines over the past couple of weeks. If you have been following this blog, you are aware that space technology may have been present at the Olympics. In previous posts we already discovered applications for cycling, running, tennis, and football, all of which are Olympic disciplines. So clearly, space was present at the Olympics, but did you also know that the Olympics were present in space?
Space is all over the Olympic Games by way of spin-offs. A spin-off is a product that is based on technologies or materials originally developed for a space programme. An earlier blog post already made mention of Kristin Armstrong winning a gold medal in the time trial at the Rio 2016 Olympics with a wheel from the German brand Lightweight. Their Autobahn disc wheel benefited directly from the aerospace business of the parent company, which originally developed the materials for the Sentinel-3 satellite. Due to the resulting know-how and material access, they were able to manufacture the lightest and stiffest disc wheel on the planet.
Space technology can also have an impact here on Earth through satellite applications. During their cosmic interview, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and French football player Kylian Mbappé talked about satellite tracking technology. The wearables are also popping up in other sports, providing tactical insights but also in-depth player performance data on velocity and acceleration, positioning, covered distance, and workload.
In future blog posts we will uncover more space spin-offs and satellite applications for sport, but for now let’s have a look at what else space and the Olympics have in common!
Did you know?
Two of Japan’s most popular animated robots, Gundam and Zaku, rocketed to outer space in a mini satellite to welcome the world to the Olympic Games both on Earth and from outer space!
The Tokyo Games of 1964 were the first in history to be broadcast directly via satellite and became known as the TV Olympics. To this day, communications satellites continue to provide global coverage. Learn more about the satellite segment behind the scenes of the Olympics in Eurisy’s latest episode of Satellites for Sports!
The Olympic torch has been to space on three occasions already! On board the Space Shuttle Columbia, an unlit torch was taken into space for the very first time to celebrate the Atlanta Games of 1996. Four years later a Sydney Olympic torch was taken on board the ISS to promote the international spirit of both the Games and space flight.
In 2013, Russian cosmonauts took the Olympic torch on a spacewalk. For the first time, the torch orbited the Earth outside a spacecraft, symbolically passing over all participating nations of the world.
In an interview with Tokyo 2020, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet talked about following the Olympics from space. Meanwhile, three taikonauts on board China’s brand new Tiangong space station also watched the event. For the first time in history, the Olympic Games were followed by people in space on multiple locations!
But there is more… Just a few weeks before the Earthly games began, the very first Space Olympics took place on the International Space Station!
The seven crew members, or better athletes, put together a friendly competition between the Soyuz team and the Dragon team. The events ranged from “synchronised floating” and “lack-of-floor routine”, to “weightless sharpshooting” and “no-hand ball”.
During a closing ceremony, the Olympic flag was passed on between Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. With the next summer Olympic Games taking place in Paris 2024, the gesture perfectly aligned with the traditional handover from the current host country to the next.
In conclusion
Olympic athletes benefit from space technology, both through spin-offs and satellite data. But also viewers across the globe, and even in outer space, can thank satellite communications for live broadcasts.
Promoting sport, culture and education with a view to build a better world constitutes the foundation of the Olympic Movement. Over the years there have been several initiatives involving space activities to support these values, and now we even witnessed the first ever Space Olympics. Maybe this was just a great way to boost crew cohesion on the ISS, but who knows, in the future it might become an actual thing?
