ACT screenshot – emissions

A screenshot of the Assessment and Comparison Tool (ACT), developed by a consortium led by the EPFL Space Center. The software can generate life cycle assessments for space hardware, spacecraft, launchers, ground stations and even complete missions. It can be used from the earliest design stages as well as later in a project’s lifetime.ACT combines data from life cycle assessments and incorporates guidelines such as the EU’s Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), and provides expert advice on the development of ESA’s latest space system’s life-cycle assessment guidelines.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises that are pitching or designing a new product or service for space already have a lot to consider. To help these companies, ESA came up with the idea of a tool to assess the life cycle for future launchers and spacecraft instead of analysing it once the vehicle is already in operation and changes are more difficult to incorporate in the design and will have less impact.

The EPFL Space Center, together with ESA, was wary of “reinventing what already exists” and included established organisations in their consortium. ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse, France, provided their knowledge on launch profiles, whilst the Institute of Space Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, delivered its expertise of launch and reentry emissions per altitude layer. The Paul Scherrer Institute PSI’s know-how on life-cycle assessments strengthened ACT’s scientific basis and Ways Ehead’s market research and advice on legislation brought the tool up to the latest and upcoming standards.

ACT is being marketed and further improved by a spin-off company EcoDeltaV, keeping intellectual property and security in mind, as well us keeping it up to date with new research and findings as they are found. The company is offering the tool as a software-as-a-service and using it internally for consultancy services.