The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced plans to establish a central hub for all its exploration activities in Cologne, Germany. The project includes the construction of a new €20 million building on the grounds of the European Astronaut Centre to accommodate staff of the Human and Robotic Exploration directorate currently based in the Netherlands.
Established in 1990, the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne is home to ESA’s astronaut corps. It oversees astronaut selection, training, medical support, and mission planning, and includes full-scale mock-up modules used to rehearse missions and prepare crews for flight.
On 20 November, ESA announced plans to expand its EAC facilities with a new building that will be constructed “next to the existing one.” The agency stated that the facility is intended to relieve pressure on the centre’s existing office space, which is currently at capacity, and to accommodate part of the agency’s Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration workforce that is presently based at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands.
The new building has a planned construction budget of €20 million, a cost that will be shared equally between ESA and the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the EAC is located. Once construction of the new building is complete in 2028, the expanded EAC facilities will serve as the agency’s central hub for all human and robotic exploration activities, reaching from low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond.
“This new building is an important step in the evolution of our directorate,” said Daniel Neuenschwander, Director of Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA. “We will almost triple the number of people on site, and the European Astronaut Centre will become our main hub for ESA’s exploration activities.”
The 20 November announcement included the signing of a Letter of Intent between ESA, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which hosts and operates the wider infrastructure that surrounds the EAC.
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