“It is inspiring to see the results of the talents of Young ESA displayed in this way,” said Torben Henriksen, ESA Director of Technology, Engineering and Quality and Head of ESTEC. “It has taken entrepreneurship, ingenuity and sustained hard work to reach this stage, much of it taking place during their own spare time. Many people from ESTEC and across ESA have pitched in to make this milestone possible.”

ESTEC is the technical hub of European space activity, with new space missions guided through development from here. But usually any actual building work is done by industry. YPSat is a rare exception, to give Young Professionals working across all areas of ESA activities the experience of designing, building, testing and finally operating flight hardware.