---
title: "European Space Agency Open Day 2026"
date: "2026-10-11"
description: "Visiting the European Space Agency Open Day at Harwell"
draft: false
---

Yesterday I went along to the [European Space Agency][esa] open day at Harwell, an
amazing event hosted by engineers, scientists, and communications people interested in
space, aerospace, and high technology[^high-technology]. There were volunteers from
[UKRI (UK Research and Innovation)][UKRI] and [Airbus][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!

[^high-technology]: High technology: technology that requires intensive compute
resources, international collaboration, and extensive supply chains.

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 robots[^robot-dogs].

[^robot-dogs]: I think I agree with the small child who said they should be called robot
dogs.

Other attractions included a gallery by [Max Alexander][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][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!

[esa]: https://www.esa.int/
[UKRI]: https://www.ukri.org
[airbus]: https://www.airbus.com
[max-alexander]: https://maxalexander.com
[kessler]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_J._Kessler