Space explained
ESA Open Day at ESRIN: satellite data and labs for schools
ESA Open Day at ESRIN turns satellite data into hands-on labs and guided tours: about 2,000 visitors per edition, and a Multimedia Centre open all year.
In brief
ESA Open Day at ESRIN showed how satellite data becomes a practical tool, through laboratories and first-hand accounts; each edition draws about 2,000 people. The Multimedia Centre provides continuity for schools, but turning interest into measurable impact needs indicators and local partnerships.
Key points
- Run regular school visits to the Multimedia Centre, which can be booked year-round.
- Add pre and post-visit knowledge tests to measure what was actually learned.
- Build local partnerships with school networks and science museums.
- Plan a six-month trial period with periodic evaluation.
- Document and measure participation rates and skills transfer.
ESA Open Day opens doors and machinery to show how data from space becomes practical decisions. This article covers the Open Day held at ESRIN, the European Space Agency’s Earth Observation centre. The 27 September 2024 and 26 September 2025 editions combined laboratories, guided tours and first-hand accounts, which is what makes satellite work tangible rather than abstract.
Where a signal becomes a measurement
The Multimedia Centre for Earth Observation is an exhibition and teaching space where satellite imagery is presented as an operational instrument rather than a picture. In 2024 ESRIN welcomed over 2,000 visitors: more than two thousand people took part in laboratories and presentations, and watched model rocket launch simulations. Those experiences showed how a satellite image turns into a measurement useful for managing land, with concrete examples such as identifying areas of water stress and recognising soil types.
The 2025 edition repeated the format. On 26 September nearly 2,000 participants entered the same spaces, normally closed to the public. Guided tours explained the working chain from image capture through processing to environmental monitoring applications. Crucially, participants learned to separate what satellites actually record from what is inferred through analysis and models: that distinction is the difference between reading data and trusting a conclusion.
When first-hand accounts make the learning concrete
The Astronaut Reserve is a list of European Space Agency professionals ready for training and missions. Members of that reserve, including Anthea Comellini and Andrea Patassa, appeared on stage in 2024, connecting the experience of training to the business of collecting data. In the same edition Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation Programmes and head of ESRIN, introduced the event, setting out priorities and projects and providing an institutional frame.
That framing helped the audience understand why this data matters to environmental policy and to research, not only to engineers.
In 2025 speakers and hands-on activities kept the same educational tone. Lectures, laboratories and sky-observing sessions let teachers and students see the operational steps and the instruments involved. The personal accounts from astronauts and technicians made one thing clear: usable data is produced by combining very different skills, and interest turns into verifiable technical competence only when you can see that chain.
Continuity for schools, and the missing measurements
The event left something concrete behind. The Multimedia Centre provides continuity, remaining open for booked visits and one day a month for anyone who missed the open days. But turning attention into results requires simple indicators: pre and post-visit knowledge tests, and participation rates in local teaching activities. Measuring the change is the only way to know whether monthly visits convert curiosity into competence.
The logical next steps are clear enough. Build a visit calendar with local partners, such as school networks or science museums, and set a six-month trial period with periodic evaluation. One question stays open: what resources are needed to turn participants into measurable impact on the ground? Each edition counts 2,000 participants, and that number on its own does not answer it.
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