Enhancing the Skills of Computer Science Students for Data Analysis in Astrophysical and Geophysical Domains – Different Projects and Use Cases

The space research sector with processing of data in astrophysical and geophysical domains presents a promising area for computer science students, especially in data analysis and machine learning. In our effort, we decided to support students of IT study programs at our faculty with the environment that help them to work on such tasks. In this paper we discuss the needs for such environment. The potential for incorporating space-related topics into computer science education and their future opportunities for jobs in this sector are growing, mostly thanks to Slovakia's membership in the European Space Agency (ESA) and growth of the sector. Therefore, skilled workforce to support the growing space ecosystem is needed. The main challenges, issues and their solutions are provided. Through collaborations with experts, joint projects, research use cases, and other resources, we were able to establish environment for students to work on such challenging projects and gain new knowledge and skills.