Angus Forrest

European Space Agency Open Day 2026

323 words 2 min read

Yesterday I went along to the European Space Agency open day at Harwell, an amazing event hosted by engineers, scientists, and communications people interested in space, aerospace, and high technology11 High technology: technology that requires intensive compute resources, international collaboration, and extensive supply chains.. There were volunteers from UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) and Airbus. I had some great chats with the communications people from both. Airbus’ comms person talked about how space is inherently sexy in a public comms sense: who wouldn’t want to discover life on another planet? UKRI’s comms person talked through the validation required when engaging in public outreach as a government-funded organisation. They aren’t even allowed a TikTok account!

The coolest demonstrations were from the Earth Observation (EO) scientists. They had set up interactive displays for different topographical datasets, the main one being surface temperature at multiple resolutions. The runner-up would have to be the ESA robotics team, who were driving two quadruped robots22 I think I agree with the small child who said they should be called robot dogs..

Other attractions included a gallery by Max Alexander documenting how people are using space, how we measure our impact on it, and how sustainable innovation can keep space accessible in the future. My favourite photo in the gallery was one of Donald Kessler. Many of my collaborators build on work Kessler pioneered, in particular on the sustainability of low Earth orbit and pollution from artificial space objects.

My only criticism of the day would be how registration is handled. There isn’t a waiting area for the afternoon session, so people are expected to queue outside the compound. That seems silly to me if ESA wants people to arrive by public transport, since you can’t time a bus or train as precisely as a drive. There are also no facilities on the Harwell Campus to wait in at the weekend, like a library or cafe. Hopefully, in the coming decades, the Harwell Campus can become a livelier place that caters to these kinds of events. At the very least, it would be nice not to queue around the block!

Footnotes

  1. High technology: technology that requires intensive compute resources, international collaboration, and extensive supply chains. ↩

  2. I think I agree with the small child who said they should be called robot dogs. ↩

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