𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐮𝐠𝐛𝐲: 𝐀 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠!
On my way to the office this morning, for once, I passed by Ernest Wallon...
(𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 #𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦; "𝘌𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵" 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 🔴&⚫ 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘯. // 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 : 𝘯𝘰, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 🔵&⚪ 𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘳!)
... And as I cursed the perpetually congested ring road during rush hour, a poster caught my attention: "Rugby and Space Exhibition," co-hosted by the Stade Toulousain Rugby and the SEMECCEL - Cité de l’espace / L’Envol des Pionniers.
🤔 But what are the connections between #rugby and #space you may ask. Well, there are a few actually!
Did you know, for instance, that the small black rectangle protruding from the jersey of every professional player is actually a #GPS tracker?
Well, technically, it's a navigation tracker! (Because "GPS" is just the commonly used term for the American navigation system; but I won't delve into the distinctions between GPS 🇺🇸, Galileo 🇪🇺, Beidou 🇨🇳, and Glonass 🇷🇺 here.)
How many meters has Antoine Dupont covered with the ball in hand? What is Cheslyn Kolbe's top speed? How does a tackle or even a ruck clearance affect a player's physical condition? These are all data indispensable to modern rugby, and they are made accessible only through technologies initially developed by or for the #SpaceIndustry.
From there to saying that space today counts as a 16th player on the field, I'll leave that to the specialists to discuss!
As for me, I'm returning to promoting my antennas, those very ones designed by Anywaves, with the hope that one day, our GNSS All-Bands will be used to analyze the performances of my beloved Castres Olympique team 🤗
Oh! and, to learn more about the use of "GPS" in rugby environments, don't hesitate to read the article by James Harrington that I've included in the comments 😉
📸 by Paul Périé
Merci beaucoup ! 🙂