Turn your ideas into satellite concepts with the ESA Academy’s Concurrent Engineering Workshop

Concurrent engineering is a method of designing and developing products for the space sector. Contrary to traditional design methods, all subsystems are designed simultaneously in concurrent engineering. This is a far more efficient way of working but comes with its unique challenge: solutions in one area that could impact the design of another subsystem must be instantly identified and communicated between teams. Although concurrent engineering is a more complicated process, to begin with, in effect, it allows mistakes to be identified – and rectified – earlier, therefore reducing the overall design time. 

ESA's central Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) is at ESA's technology centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. However, within the framework of the ESA Academy programme, ESA has developed a similar facility exclusively for educational purposes at ESA's European Space Security and Education Centre (ESEC)-Galaxia in Transinne, Belgium. Access to this facility during the workshop complements what students learn at university by familiarising them with the concurrent engineering approach.  

Content of the workshop

The Workshop will take place at ESA Education's Training Centre, where the ESA Academy Training and Learning Facility is located. Guided by ESA systems engineers, the students will learn about concurrent engineering and its benefits, gaining first-hand experience with the  Concurrent Model-based Engineering Tool (COMET) and identifying design drivers. 

Students will receive a mission brief, then use concurrent engineering to create a spacecraft design. 

Students will be divided into groups of between two and four and will cover the following disciplines:  

• Structures/mechanisms
• Configuration
• Power 
• Thermal 
• Attitude and Orbital Control Systems (AOCS) 
• Propulsion 
• Optics / sensors 
• Trajectory analysis
• Communications/data handling

Students will create a subsystem concept within their groups to achieve their given mission using concurrent engineering. They will start with the first iteration of all the subsystems and a budget they will have to review and present. A second iteration will then be completed according to the identified function tree and product tree. In the end, the mission design will be finalised and presented by the students.
The week before the workshop, the selected students will receive some material and follow a two-hour COMET tutorial to familiarise them with the tool.

Who can apply?

To participate, students must fulfill the following eligibility criteria at the time of application:

• age minimum of 18 years old. ESA Academy and relevant partners will only appraise applications from students who have no or limited professional experience in relevant scientific, engineering, or other space-related topics;
• be a citizen of an ESA Member States, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovenia;
• be enrolled as a MSc or PhD student in a university (not graduating before the workshop);
• be studying an engineering subject or physics.

ESA will sponsor the selected students. The sponsorship will cover accommodation and meals and up to 300 Euros for traveling to Belgium.

How to apply?

 Fill in the application form;

• Select preferred disciplines;
• Upload a motivation letter (PDF, maximum 1 page, no images);
• Upload a CV (Europass format, PDF, maximum two pages, no images);
• Upload a formal recommendation letter (PDF, maximum 1 page including signature, no images) from a university professor or academic supervisor of the current university ; 
• Upload a copy of academic records (PDF). 

All answers and documents should be in English (except academic records if unavailable).  

The deadline for applications is Monday 22^nd 23:59 CEST. 

For more information, please contact tlp@esa.int Pictures attached in the email