What applications and missions does Cost Engineering enable?

'Putting money into space' is a somewhat misleading phrase, because, of course, space budgets all get spent on goods and services down here on Earth. But the extreme complexity of space projects means their costs can be difficult to anticipate, manage and control.Cost engineering is about estimating the costs of ESA procurement and evaluating the prices of the offers, at different stages of consolidation of the technical definition of the item and of the programmatic context in which the procurement is performed.

It has always been important for organisations to estimate and control their costs properly. This is especially important for an international organisation such as ESA.

Cost Engineering at ESA has progressively shifted focus from a purely economic approach to a real engineering discipline, with project technologies and architectures linked to cost and risk.

Cost Engineering is essential for all ESA missions.