Recently a delegation from the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) visited the Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) as part of their tour of ESTEC. The CDF has previously worked closely with JAXA on a number of studies and even had a JAXA engineer embedded in the Systems Division for several months. Read more
Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander yesterday officially opened the new laboratory building at ESA's space research and technology centre, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The Prince and other guests were impressed with the state-of-the-art facilities, including the Propulsion Lab and the Concurrent Design Facility. In the presence of 150 dignitaries from all ESA Member States, Prince Willem Alexander launched an Ariane rocket constructed from balloons in 'the mall', the gallery which links together all the laboratories and their associated offices. Earlier Dutch minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven and ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain spoke about the importance of ESTEC for the Netherlands, for Europe and for European success in space.