CDF Study Broadcast to Students Across the World
In conjunction with a current study, the CDF broadcast to over 20 Universities in 11 countries. Using a combination of advanced IT communication tools, students were able to follow the collaborative design work being done by ESA engineers at ESTEC and ESOC.
The CDF Study is looking at the SSETI student mission to the Moon, ESMO (The European Student Moon Orbiter). The study involves assessing a number of proposals from student teams across Europe and performing a Pre-Phase A study on the mission. The work done by ESA engineers will check the feasibility of the mission and the possibility of using a number of different technologies. One of the major considerations is whether to select a chemical or an electrical propulsion unit. The trade-off between these two options will become a major design driver, and will affect many other elements of the spacecraft architecture and subsystems. By using the tools already in the CDF together with new tools, such as WebEx, the collaborative working process could be seen by students all over the world. These techniques will be used again to cover the remaining design sessions, and allow students to follow the progress of the Study. The results will then form the basis of work to be done by the students in the later stages of the design. This will include a week long workshop at the CDF in October, and a Study performed by students in the CDF in January.
