Dune-side aerial view of ESA’s ESTEC technical centre

A rare dune-side aerial view of ESA’s ESTEC technical centre on the Dutch coast, the location of ESA’s annual Open Day.

On the left of the image can be seen ESTEC’s Test Centre for full-scale testing of satellites, equipped with a suite of simulation facilities to reproduce every aspect of the space environment.

In the centre is the main building, home to ESA laboratories and mission teams, distinguished by an almost 200-m long main corridor. To the right of the main building is the restaurant and tower complex built by renowned Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck in the late 1980s.

On the other side of the car park is the two-tone square-shaped Erasmus building, focused on human spaceflight, and to its right is the T building, home to ESA’s Galileo team.

Come see ESTEC for yourself during the annual ESA Open Day on Sunday, 7 October. To learn more about ESTEC and its history, click here.