Highlights from the first ESA Academy’s Space Weather Training Course

“I did not only learn about the fundamentals of space weather and its impact on space and ground-based system, but also had the unique opportunity to collaborate with people from various disciplines which addressed problems from different perspectives", enthusiastically said a Swiss student from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) after joining the pilot edition of the Space Weather Training Course. 

Produced by ESA Education and the ESA Space Weather Offices, the course gave students the opportunity to gather for a 5-day experience with both lectures and hands-on activities.  

Students had the chance to learn from ESA experts, academia and industry about a wide range of topics related to space weather, including: 

• Space weather monitoring, forecasting, modelling,  
• Space weather impact on Space Surveillance and Tracking, on Space based Systems, on Spacecraft Operations, on Navigation and Communication Systems, on Ground-based Systems, on Aviation, and its socio-economic impact   
• Outlook toward the domain’s evolution in the future.  

“As an Industrial Engineering and Management student, it was a great joy to be selected for this course. It was a privilege for me to feel that I had something to learn and add to the course. My lack of knowledge of the space weather phenomenon did not hinder my learning at all! I really felt that the course was prepared to meet my needs, and all the trainers and other students were super available to listen to my difficulties and experiences”, commented one Portuguese student from the University of Coimbra. 

Apart from the lessons, students also had fun doing a group project, where they were divided into teams of 6 and had to develop their concept for a space weather service. ESA experts supported them along the way both in person and online, helping them address key issues like the type of user domain and the delivery.  

At last, but not least, students could get exclusive tours of key facilities providing an essential part of the current European space weather landscape: on Wednesday 10 May they visited ESA’s Space Weather Coordination Centre and the Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence at the Space Pole in Brussels, and, on Friday 12 May the Proba-2 Operations Centre and ESA’s Space Weather Data Centre at ESEC-Redu. 

“The lectures were interesting, as well as the practical tutorials, and the access to the existing portal has been really helpful and will be in the future, since personally I will keep using some of its features. After the course I have so many more ideas and energy to decide for my future work field or research topic“, concluded an Italian student from the Polytechnic University of Milan (PoliMi). 

Would you like to join ESA Academy’s Training and Learning Programme as well? Have a look at the upcoming training opportunities here.