Young Professionals Arriving at ESTEC If you would like to arrive at ESTEC in time for the ESTEC lab tours or the ED&I workshop, we recommend that you travel during the morning of the Thursday. If you would like to make it to the Young Professional Lunch, please make sure you leave enough time to take the bus from Leiden Centraal and to get through the ESTEC gates.

Young Professional Lunch Room: Foyer (just off the Main Canteen) If you are already arriving at ESTEC on Thursday, we do not want you to have lunch alone so please join us in the Young Professional Lunch at the main canteen! We will send an email with meeting point and a map closer to the event day.

Guided ESTEC Lab Tours - Groups 1 and 3 Room: Micky's Couch Pre-booked lab tour for groups 1 and 3. Check your emails to see your assigned group. Meet 15 minutes before the start time at Micky’s Couch near ESTEC Reception. Have you ever wondered what actually goes on at ESTEC? To satisfy your curiosity, we will be organising guided tours of the labs throughout ESTEC on Thursday afternoon. One tour will visit the Test Centre and Planetary/Robotics lab. Another tour will visit the TT&C lab and the Rainbow Corridor. We will split participants into smaller groups, so if you are also interested in the ED&I workshop, you will be able to attend both a tour and the workshop. Please note that spaces on the tours will be prioritised for those who do not work at ESTEC.

Social at ESCAPE To finish off the day and for you to continue to meet as many Young Professionals as possible, we will guide everyone to ESCAPE after the Lab tours and ED&I workshop so you can enjoy an evening together before the YPE.

Space Slam Join us for a battle of scientific, technical and comedic wits as we host the first all ESA Space Slam. In the space slam our presenters will compete to present their work or research in a fun way. At the end, you the audience will decide who has the coolest, funniest, or most insightful presentation of the evening by way of noise - the louder you cheer, the better!

Registration Make sure you arrive early enough with a valid ticket! We will close the doors at **9AM sharp!**

Opening Ceremony

• Dietmar Pilz
• Jens Lauren
• Young ESA

The day kicks off in grand style with the opening ceremony, which includes our welcome message and a speech by the Head of Establishment Dietmar Pilz, kindly hosting the YPE again this year. Following that, there will be a Young ESA panel featuring insights from young professionals across all European sites, highlighting this year's exciting advances. To wrap up, we are thrilled to present a captivating keynote by ESM System Engineer Jens Lauren.

DG Interview

• Josef Aschbacher

Come and meet your Director General! In this first hour the DG will be interviewed on stage on different topics - from his role in ESA and the associated political aspects to his views on the Young Professional community. You will also be able to ask your questions in a Q&A session at the end!

Coffee Break

DG Panel Session

• Carole Mundell
• Josef Aschbacher
• Daniel Neuenschwander

The DG will be joined on stage by the directors of HRE and SCI to discuss ESA's strategy for Science and Exploration. The session will finish with a Q&A.

Panel: Human Spaceflight

• Frank De Winne
• Christiane Hahn
• Stephen Alamo

Ever wondered what happens to the physical and mental state of astronauts during spaceflight? There's no better way to know than listening directly to an astronaut talk about their personal experience! The astronaut will be joined by an exploration scientist in space biology and a flight surgeon for an interactive panel. The session will not only cover currently known stressors, but also how the different stressors will evolve during future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars!

Lunch Room: Main Canteen, Lunchpad or ESCAPE

Mario Kart Grand Prix We have already raced our way through the different ESA sites, and soon we will take on our friends at NASA and JAXA, but first we will race the all-ESA Mario Kart Finale at this year's YPE. Not all site champions could make it, but we've got the best drivers from the top 4 site tournaments who can join us physically at the YPE. We will hold the YPE Mario Kart Grand Prix at 14:15 on the main stage after lunch - Join us as we see who's the best Mario Kart Young ESA Tournament racer at the YPE!

Coffee Break

Poster Session Discover the projects of your fellow young professionals at the poster session! We will start with lightning talks, followed by the opportunity to mingle and explore the posters. Vote for the best poster, and the winner, chosen by you, will receive a special prize!

Closing Ceremony

Young Professional Event Deep Space Soirée The closing party for the 2024 Young Professional Event. Access is restricted to ticket holders.

Afternoon Social Activities The social activities team have been hard at work arranging a range of social activities including cycling, laser tag and a visit to the Space Expo. Sign-ups for these activities have closed so check your emails for the details and start time for your chosen afternoon social activity.

Evening Social Activities Wish the YPE could last just a little bit longer? Then join us for the final organised social activities. Whether is is a cozy games night or a pub crawl through the historic centre of Leiden, we have something for everyone. Sign-ups for these activities have now closed so check your emails for more information and the start time of your chosen activity.