Royal inauguration for the new CDF
On Tuesday 8th of April, the new Concurrent Design Facility was inaugurated by Crown Prince Willem Alexander of the Netherlands. The ceremony, organized for the official opening of the new laboratory building at ESTEC, in Noordwijk, included the visit of two new laboratories: the Propulsion Lab and the Concurrent Design Facility.
The Prince was accompanied by the Minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven, the Queen’s Commisionaire Jan Franssen, the Mayor of Noordwijk Harry Groen, ESA Director General J.J Dordain and ESTEC Director Michel Courtois.
The visit to the CDF offered the possibility to observe a “team at work” while designing one of the future European Space missions. The Concurrent Design approach, models and infrastructure were also explained and demonstrated. Finally a 3-dimensional simulation of the mission being designed by the team was shown on the large projection screen.
The event was also attended by delegates of ESA Member States, representatives of National Space Agencies, European Space Industry and Academia.
Minister Van der Hoeven praised the new Concurrent Design Facility: "You can see immediately the added value of the CDF. To work here means you broaden your horizons, all the different disciplines come together to develop new technologies. If Europe wants to remain at the forefront of developments in space, then we have to look to the future. That is exactly what is happening here at ESTEC."
