The Cypriot team "Arachnobeea", winner of the NASA International Space Apps Challenge, has been invited by NASA to attend the launch of a space rocket this September, after winning an international award for a project they did of the first world`s zero - g drone.
On the occasion of their success, the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation organised an event in Nicosia during which the team presented its project and received the congratulations of the Ministry and various Embassies.

Arachnobeea was selected recently by a NASA judging committee, among over 950 other projects from 135 locations worldwide, as one of the 6 global winners in the framework of  the NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The runner-up team of the Space Apps Challenge Limassol 2015 was the global winner in the "Best Mission Concept" category.
The team comprises people from Cyprus, Ukraine, Serbia and Romania. Creators of Arachnobeea are Mihailo Kitanovic, Christos Antoniou, Charalambos Leventis, Adrian Carlan, Aleksandar Bozic, Iurii Fomenco, Visnja Durovic, Dragan Colovic, Ljubodrag Bozic and Nikola Gacic.
In his speech, the Minister of Transport congratulated the team for their success and said that this confirms Cyprus` presence on the space map.
Space technology, he said, is a very important sector and is applied in telecommunications, weather forecast, even financial services. Cyprus, he said, attributes great importance in this industry and noted that it is for this reason that Nicosia will further strengthen its relationship with ESA and move to the next stage of becoming a full member.

Arachnobeea
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Later on, members of the team Arachnobeea presented their work. The Cypriot team designed the most innovative quadcopter drone destined for usage in space vehicles, and they managed to excite everyone with their presentation at the local competition in Limassol in early April.
The name Arachnobeea comes from the way the drone moves, both walker like a spider, and flyer like a bee. The drone can be used on Earth as well with small modifications for mapping terrain, surveillance, search and rescue and inventorying.
The team`s members said that they think about developing more projects in the near future.
In statements to CNA, team leader Aleksandar Bozic said that the team is very proud to be among the top six in the world and first in its category and added that the team was invited by NASA to watch the launch of the Space X resupply rocket from the Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station in September.
“This is a once in a lifetime experience. Watching a man- made technology going to space is truly thrilling”, he told CNA.
According to NASA, in the category of the “Best Mission Concept” the Cypriot team won the international competition.
“Arachnobeea from (Limassol, Cyprus) designed a spider-bee drone for small cargo transport with a grab and capture capability and the ability to dock and release”, NASA said in a statement.
The team has been invited to attend the launch of a space mission, whist a delegation and officials of the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation (CSEO) will hold scheduled meetings with representatives of NASA, to discuss collaboration and reaching agreements.
“We will have talks with NASA executives and see what will happen to our project”, Aleksandar Bozic told CNA.
The event was also attended by Ambassadors or representatives of the Embassies of Serbia, Ukraine and Romania (countries of origin of some members of the team) as well as the US, who congratulated the members of the team and wished them a nice trip to the States.

Arachnobeea`s video is found under (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc3HosYOPOk).

The materials of CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY were used in this article.