Save the date: ESA Open Days, 5-6 October 2024

This will be the 13th annual ESA Open Day event in the Netherlands. The venue will be ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre, or ESA ESTEC, which is the largest space establishment in Europe, offering visitors the chance to meet space engineers and astronauts and see actual space hardware.

The theme for this year is Generation Space: Shaping the Future Together, and it will explore how it takes a community to realise ESA’s vision for the future. As in previous years, the goal of the event is to give people first-hand experience of the cutting edge of space science with the help of scientists, engineers, astronauts, and space professionals.

ESTEC’s year-round visitor centre Space Expo will also be open for the Open Day while Space Rocks will have a full roster of events, to celebrate the art and culture of science and space. In the NL Space Tent, organised and funded by the Netherlands Space Office (NSO), you’ll be able to meet around 40 companies from the Dutch space industry.

Each year thousands of visitors attend the ESA Open Days in the Netherlands. Sunday’s general Open Day is preceded by an Open Day for people with a disability on Saturday, 5 October – the day before, allowing visitors to explore the sprawling site at their own pace – because space is for everyone!