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  10/4: ESTEC Open Day (Noordwijk, Netherlands)

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Author Topic:   10/4: ESTEC Open Day (Noordwijk, Netherlands)
Philip
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Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 07-24-2015 06:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
European Space Agency release
ESTEC opens up: visit Europe's largest place for space this October

Europe's largest place for space is little visited, but hugely influential: this October you get the chance to see for yourself. ESA's technical centre ESTEC is opening its doors to the public – a must for all space enthusiasts.

Mark your calendar: this year's ESTEC Open Day will take place on Sunday 4 October – the 58th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik-1 – as part of the Netherlands' national Weekend of Science and World Space Week.

This will be your chance to meet astronauts and space experts, tour key facilities and examine actual space hardware in close-up, including the flight model of the IXV spaceplane – which last year performed a fiery plunge down from orbital altitude – and the multiple spacecraft making up the BepiColombo mission to Mercury, set to be launched in early 2017.

This year's event will focus on our longer-term space future, highlighting the novel technologies being developed to change the space industry state-of-the-art, and the new destinations being opened up in the process.

Innovations such as telerobotics, 3D printing and advanced automation mean that the coming half century of space exploration is likely to be radically transformed – come learn more from the very experts developing them.

Confirmed attendees so far include Dutch ESA astronaut André Kuipers, while NL Space will host a dedicated exhibit highlighting examples of Dutch expertise in space technology and applications.

Easily accessible from Amsterdam and The Hague, ESTEC is made up of a sprawling complex of buildings nestled beside the coastal dunes of Noordwijk. It includes a suite of technical laboratories, the Erasmus centre – ESA's human spaceflight research facility – and a dedicated facility for testing full-sized satellites.

This is the place where Europe's Rosetta comet-chaser was first conceived and designed, then tested in advance of its interplanetary odyssey – and where the Rosetta project team remain based to this day, not to mention a 4 m-diameter 1:1100 scale model of target comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko – itself on view for Open Day.

A host of other missions also owe their origins to ESTEC, from the very first European satellites more than four decades ago to the forthcoming BepiColombo mission to Mercury and the ExoMars missions to the Red Planet – along with Juice, the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, now in preparation.

ESTEC has also spawned its own Business Incubation Centre, creating new start-up companies by applying cutting-edge space technologies to terrestrial markets, many of which will be exhibiting their products and services at the event.

The entire family are welcome at the ESTEC Open Day; visitors will tour the site at their own pace, with dedicated children's areas along the route.

Noordwijk, ESTEC's home city, is additionally planning an entire month of space-related activities through October, celebrating its status as the 'space coast' of the Netherlands.

Full details of the event will be given later this summer, with registration opening on 31 July. Meanwhile, please reserve the date for now.

Jacques van Oene
Member

Posts: 861
From: Houten, The Netherlands
Registered: Oct 2001

posted 08-01-2015 04:11 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jacques van Oene     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Four European astronauts, including ESA’s first female astronaut, are so far confirmed to speak and sign autographs on the day.

Claudie Haigneré, who visited both Mir and the International Space Station, will be joined by ESA astronauts Michel Tognini, who visited Mir and took part in the Shuttle’s deployment of the Chandra X-ray telescope, and André Kuipers, who twice flew to the Space Station, and French space agency astronaut Jean-Jacques Favier, who flew on the Shuttle.

Please click here to register.

carl walker
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Posts: 360
From: Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 09-08-2015 06:55 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for carl walker     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Confirmed: four-time Shuttle flyer, Hubble servicing spacewalker and one of ESA's original astronauts, Claude Nicollier, will be at the ESTEC Open Day.

carl walker
Member

Posts: 360
From: Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 09-28-2015 02:20 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for carl walker     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Just a reminder, next weekend, 4 October, is ESTEC Open Day in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

Five astronauts are due to give talks and sign autographs (Claudie Haigneré, Michel Tognini, André Kuipers, Jean-Jacques Favier and Claude Nicollier) — plus loads more spacey stuff.

spaceman
Member

Posts: 1104
From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK
Registered: Dec 2002

posted 10-04-2015 01:21 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaceman   Click Here to Email spaceman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Headed for Birmingham airport at 4.00 AM for a 6.00 AM flight. Fog on the Amsterdam side ensured we were delayed, eventually flew and after circling Amsterdam for quite awhile we landed. Arrived late at a very busy ESTEC open day. Very well organised. Missed the Claude Nicollier signing and lecture his only one of the day.

Managed to attend the lecture of Jean-Jacques Favier and autographs after, failed to get into to the Michel Tognini lecture (every lecture was a full house) this one followed straight after the Favier one.

Just about got into the Claudie Haignere lecture and video, had to cut short the Q&A in favour of photos and signing as she had a plane to catch. Lovely lady, inspirational and so many people wanted a photo with her, particularly young women, amazing.

Nice to see Carl W. in his natural habitat... fancy loving space and having that for a day job too. Nice one Carl. Well done ESTEC.

BA002
Member

Posts: 175
From: Utrecht,NL
Registered: Feb 2007

posted 10-07-2015 01:22 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for BA002   Click Here to Email BA002     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It was a great way to celebrate the birthday of space flight! I really enjoyed the lectures and strolling past the displays and exhibits and of course the heart of ESTEC, its test facility, where parts of BepiColombo could be seen, behind glass of course.

In fact there was so much to do that I could easily have spent two days, what with so many lectures and 3D tours of ISS and more vying for my attention.

My thanks to all those who made this day possible!

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