Design Booster teams conduct Final Design Review at ESTEC
The second edition of the Design Booster programme is approaching its conclusion. As part of this journey, five student teams gathered at ESA ESTEC from 13–17 April 2026 for a key milestone: the Final Design Review (FDR).
Over the past year and a half, students have refined their CubeSat concepts with support from ESA experts. What started as early-stage designs has progressively evolved into more robust and well-developed systems through structured reviews, continuous feedback, and extensive internal discussions within each team.
The Final Design Review offered an opportunity to reflect on this progress and assess how far each mission concept has come.
In preparation for the review, teams compiled a comprehensive data package covering all mission aspects. ESA experts carefully assessed the documentation and provided detailed feedback in the form of Review Item Discrepancies (RIDs), highlighting areas for clarification and improvement.
During the review at ESTEC, students and experts engaged directly in colocation sessions to discuss and address these findings. This allowed teams to validate their progress and identify next steps to further strengthen their designs while benefiting from ESA expertise.
The Final Design Review brought together almost 50 students and 20 experts, with 70 colocation sessions held and nearly 350 RIDs discussed. Each team approached the challenges of CubeSat development in its own way, while all working towards a shared goal: a robust and reliable design.
Beyond the formal review sessions, the colocation also encouraged collaboration between teams. Students shared common challenges, compared design approaches, and engaged in informal brainstorming sessions and lessons learned discussion. This highlighted an essential aspect of the programme, working together not only accelerates progress, but also makes overcoming challenges more effective.
With the Final Design Review completed, teams now enter the final phase of the programme. With the feedback received from ESA experts and insights gained from peer exchanges, they will further refine their designs for the final presentations on 27 May. This last step will showcase their journey, technical evolution and achievements over the past year and a half, as well as outline their next steps and the way forward.
The Design Booster programme continues to demonstrate the value of hands-on learning in space engineering, supporting students in their growth into the next generation of engineers.
Stay tuned! More information about the ESA Academy open opportunities can be found here.
