CubeSat Concurrent Engineering Workshop open for applications

This workshop will expose teams of students to real-life concurrent engineering approach practices while designing a CubeSat mission. Concurrent engineering is a specific method of simultaneously designing and developing products. Contrary to traditional design methods, in concurrent engineering all subsystems are designed synchronously. This is a far more efficient way of working but comes with its own 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 complex process to begin with, in effect it allows engineering discrepancies to be identified – and rectified – earlier, therefore reducing the overall design time and cost.

Following this approach, students will be split into discipline groups, – such as thermal, power, or propulsion – and be asked to work on the mission requirements established by the ESA experts playing the role of systems engineers in this workshop. In between concurrent engineering sessions, students will also be attending lectures and visiting the CubeSat Support Facility – which is an assembly, integration, and testing facility for CubeSats. At the end of the week, students will present their CubeSat project developed in the workshop to the ESA experts. In addition, students will also have the opportunity to present a brief summary of their own university CubeSat projects and get valuable feedback from ESA experts. This is an enriching experience, especially because the teams participating are either considering starting or have recently begun a university CubeSat project.

This is a unique learning opportunity for university students starting or planning a CubeSat project. Teams of students wishing to participate should not be at an advanced stage in their CubeSat project. They should be either at a conceptual or preliminary phase of their design.

Workshop content

Guided by ESA systems engineers, the students will learn about concurrent engineering and its benefits, gaining first-hand experience with Starion’s Concurrent Model-based Engineering Tool (COMET) and identifying design drivers. To make the most of this experience, the selected students will follow a self-paced COMET tutorial to allow them to become familiar with the tool the week before the workshop.

According to their background, students will form groups as they are assigned to disciplines, such as:

• Payload
• Configuration
• Structures and Mechanisms
• Propulsion
• Power 
• Thermal 
• Attitude and Orbital Control Systems (AOCS) 
• Trajectory analysis
• Communications
• Data handling

Within these groups, students will create a subsystem concept to achieve the given mission requirements using concurrent engineering. They will start with a first iteration of all the subsystems along with a budget that they will have to review and present. A second iteration will then be completed according to the identified function tree and product tree, and in the end, the final mission design will be presented by the students.

During the workshop, there will be a complementary lecture about ESA’s Fly Your Satellite! (FYS!) programme and ESA good practices. Participation in this Workshop may therefore be an excellent starting point for a possible future application to the FYS! programme.

Preliminary schedule

During the workshop, the following topics will be covered:

• Student team CubeSat project presentations
• Introduction to Concurrent Engineering and Requirements Management
• Calculation sheets and Concurrent Model-based Engineering Tool (COMET)
• Introduction to the CubeSat mission
• Lectures about
  • CubeSat architectures
  • CubeSat reliability 
• Concurrent engineering iterations
• Visit of ESEC-Redu
• Final Student Presentations

Who can apply?

Students can only apply as a team. Individual applications won’t be accepted.

Priority is given to teams that are either contemplating beginning a university CubeSat project, have recently initiated one, or are keen on employing concurrent engineering methodologies in their CubeSat design.

Teams must comply with the following requirements:

• the  team must be from a university based in an ESA Member State, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, or Slovenia
• at least 4 university students are participating in the project
• the project is educational

All team members must fulfil the following eligibility criteria at the time of application: 

• aged minimum 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 State, Canada*, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, or Slovenia
• be enrolled as a 3rd or 4th year Bachelor, Master, or PhD student in a university at the time of the Workshop (not graduating before the workshop)
• be studying an engineering subject or physics.

ESA will cover the cost of accommodation and meals as well as up to 300 euros for travelling to Belgium, for each selected student.

* Canadian students enrolled in a Canadian post-secondary institution may apply for additional support from the Canadian Space Agency through this Announcement of Opportunity (grant applications must be submitted at least 7 weeks before the course delivery and account creation 3 weeks before the deadline). This additional support is to cover costs that are not already covered by ESA for selected Canadian post-secondary students.

How to apply

An overview of the CubeSat project shall be submitted by the team leader (e.g. university professor or academic leading the team). Students within each team shall submit their individual applications as well.

Note that only a limited number of students from each team will be invited to attend the workshop. For student selection within each team, several factors will be taken into consideration, such as the overall balance of disciplines during the concurrent engineering work and the educational return for the team. Team members are not allowed to apply via multiple teams and only one proposal per university faculty or department can be considered.

Team leader only:

• Download the CubeSat Project Overview Template and fill it out (PDF, maximum 8 pages).
• Send it to academy.training@esa.int. The subject of the email and the file name should be in the format: CCEW2025 – CubeSat Project Overview – (Name of the team)

All team members:

• Fill in the online application form
  • Provide CubeSat team name
  • Select preferred disciplines
  • Upload a motivation letter (PDF, maximum 1 page, no images)
  • Upload a CV (Europass format, PDF, maximum 2 pages, no images)
  • Upload a formal recommendation letter (PDF, maximum 1 page, including signature, no images) from a university professor or academic supervisor of current university
  • Upload a copy of academic records (PDF)

All answers and documents should be in English (Transcript of Grades can be submitted in the language of the hosting university, if unavailable in English).

The deadline for applications is 6 December 2024, 23:59 CET.

For more information, please contact academy.training@esa.int.