I didn't shoot many pictures this time, too engaged in listening to speakers and demos. I've used a test Nikon P7100 here, which I have to return to Nikon tomorrow. Nice little compact. 

I'm actually quite pleased with some of the more abstract pictures with a lot of movement in them. Taken during the Exoskeleton demonstration. There were a few spotlights, that's it. 

Again, the day was very exciting. After the hugely successful SpaceTweetup at EAC in Cologne a few weeks ago one might think this must be disappointing, but that's far from the truth. 

Yes, the ESTEC SpaceTweetup was on a smaller scale than the EAC one, but that also added to the more intimate atmosphere, and even closer contact with people. I liked it a lot.

The program was completely different from EAC, simply because ESTEC is a very different organisation than EAC. Yes, not a lot of astronauts, but if you want to see high tech advanced machinery, this is the place to be. 

The day started with a tour around ESTEC, where we were shown the Large Space Simulator. This big canister is huge and is used to test satellites and other spacecrafts in the final stages of assembly. This is where the spacecraft is really tested against the hostile environment in space.

The 3D tour of the ISS was amazing. This should be available in a portable form and travel across the country for schools.

To top it all off, some people were able to try on the exoskeletons in the tele-robotics lab. In the future, astronauts may control humanoid robots or other equipment with these exoskeletons, experiencing full feedback from the equipment.

Of course the director of ESTEC Franco Ongaro welcomed us and was available for Q&A. And ex-astronaut Christer Fuglesang talked about his current and past work. 

The day ended with a nice diner with about half of the SpaceTweetup group. 

Again, thanks to Mareike Homfeld for arranging this SpaceTweetup in such short notice. Also thanks to Maria Bennett for taking care of us. And Carl Walker, who was kind enough to hand out some PromISSe patches and was responsible for most of the SpaceExpo tour program.

Again I met a lot of interesting people, learned more about space and got more excited to promote space and science to others!

Sent with Analog