ESOC hosts visit of Petra Roth, Lord Mayor of Frankfurt/Main
Dr Petra Roth, Lord Mayor of Frankfurt and Vice President of the German Association of Cities ("Deutscher Städtetag"), visited ESA’s European Space Operations Centre today.
In her first visit to ESOC, ESA’s Director of Operations, Gaele Winters, and senior mission specialists presented on the centre’s role and main activities; the visit also included a tour of the spacecraft control facilities, from where ten missions and 13 spacecraft are currently being operated.
"I'm impressed with ESOC, a high-quality technical and scientific centre that ranks at the top together with its international partners such as NASA. The often-acclaimed knowledge society is developing right here in the Frankfurt area," said Dr Roth.
Mrs Roth showed particular interest in the facts and figures of the recently published Economic Impact Study, which highlights the strong presence of space engineering competences in the Frankfurt/Darmstadt region centred on ESOC. The independent study was performed by consulting firm Accenture.
Mr Winters stressed ESOC’s interest in pursuing the study’s recommendations, such as further strengthening the region’s international visibility and intensifing cooperation with universities and research institutions in the region. "We consider Dr Roth’s visit the kick-off for expanding our already excellent cooperation with the City of Darmstadt into the entire Rhine-Main region," he said.
