The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topic
Traditionally, engineers faced with the task of designing a new, complex system or structure - a car, an aircraft or a satellite - work sequentially, one step at a time, passing the design from engineer to engineer. This is inefficient and consumes time and resources.
For more than a decade, many of ESA's sophisticated spacecraft have been designed with the help of the CDF, making use of very advanced iterative techniques - hence its title 'concurrent'.
Concurrent engineering puts all related engineers, with all their brain power and required tools together with the final user representative - or customer - in the same location at the same time. This allows for iterative design at a fast pace, with customer and designers agreeing requirements and taking decisions in real time to ensure the best design for the right cost and an acceptable risk.
This process has been developed and honed so it is now common to produce a risk assessed conceptual space mission design complete with various options and including scheduling, testing and operations in a matter of weeks.