Past opportunities 2021
Online Product Assurance Awareness Training Course 2021
Status: Call for the applications closed. Training Course delivered.
Date: 15-24 November 2021
Description: During this online training course held over eight afternoon sessions, students are given an understanding of the PA engineer role in order to increase their awareness and the interest on PA&S and present them the different related disciplines. Throughout face-to-face lectures from several ESA’s PA managers and PA discipline experts, students will understand that PA is an integral part of the engineering activities playing a role in the development, design, test philosophy, build and operation of the system.
Schedule:
| Day 1 |
Welcome and Introduction Overall Context of Space Project |
| Day 2 | Setting the Scene |
| Day 3 | Quality Management and Assurance |
| Day 4 |
Dependability Safety |
| Day 5 | Software Product Assurance |
| Day 6 | Materials and Processes |
| Day 7 | Radiation Hardness Assurance |
| Day 8 | Product Assurance in Space Business |
Online ESEO In Flight Experience Workshop 2
Status: Call for the applications closed. Workshop delivered.
Date: 19-21 October 2021
Description: During this workshop jointly organized by ESA and SITAEL, students learn from engineers and scientists who had a hand in building and operating ESEO. They are made familiar with the anatomy of the satellite and its subsystems.
Schedule:
| Day 1 |
ESEO Mission Chronicle ESEO Design, Anomalies and Results Anomalies and Results:AOCS Case Study Mission Data Analysis Ground Segment: Design, Upgrade and Performance GS Virtual Tour |
| Day 2 |
Operations: Validation and Execution Processes ATB Procedure Rehearsal |
| Day 3 |
ESEO Lessons Learnt Conclusion |
Online Human Space Physiology Training Course 2021
Status: Call for the applications closed. Training Course delivered.
Date: 18-29 October 2021
Description: The training course is organised online, over two weeks, in collaboration with ESA’s Space Medicine Team. During the first week, through interactive lectures, students are introduced to the human physiological effects of spaceflight and to the approaches to mitigate the effects of microgravity on the human body with the use of analogues and models of the space environment. During the second week of the course, students work on a group project, investigating some of the major issues and challenges that must be overcome as human spaceflight moves beyond the International Space Station.
Schedule:
| Day 1 |
Venturing into Space Introduction A History of Human Spaceflight The Realities of the Space Environment Life Support on the ISS Introduction to Group Project |
| Day 2 |
Human 'Spaceflight' Science A Sense of Space How Do Animal and Cellular Studies Help Our Understanding of Human Space Physiology The Vestibular System and Microgravity Induced Neuroplasticity Fundamentals of Muscle and Neuromuscular Function in Space |
| Day 3 |
Key Space Environment Adaptation ESA Human Research Activities - ISS and Ground Analogues Fundamentals of Bone Physiology in Space Effects of Microgravity on the Cardiovascular System Immunology in Space |
| Day 4 |
Space Medicine Support on the ISS and Beyond? Medical Support of ISS Astronauts Psychological Support for Spaceflight The Global Exploration Roadmap – The Future of Human Space Exploration Nutritional Support for Astronauts |
| Day 5 |
Astronaut Support on the ISS and Space Radiation Physical Exercise and Reconditioning in Spaceflight Space Medicine Projects at the EAC EVA Training |
| Days 6 to 9 | Group Project (afternoons) |
| Day 10 | Group Project Presentations & Training Course Conclusion |
Online Fly Your Satellite! Phase D Workshop 2021
Status: Closed. Workshop delivered.
Date: 18-22 October 2021
Description: This workshop will be held online over 5 afternoons and is organised by the Fly Your Satellite! team of the ESA Academy Programme. Phase D of Fly Your Satellite! comprises satellite integration; functional tests in ambient conditions; environmental tests; and concludes with the Flight Acceptance Review. The workshop’s objective is to prepare students for this upcoming Phase by giving them the necessary theoretical insight.
Preliminary Schedule:
| Day 1 |
Introduction Software Verification Mission Status Update by CubeSat Teams |
| Day 2 |
EMC Verification Assembly & Integration Functional Testing |
| Day 3 |
Vibration Testing Thermal Verification |
| Day 4 |
Product Assurance Ground Station Operations |
| Day 5 |
Lessons Learned from FYS2 Subsystem Testing Legal |
Online CubeSat Design Training Week 2021
Status: Call for the applications closed. Training Week delivered.
Date: 13-23 September 2021
Description: During this training week held over 9 afternoon sessions, the university students learn about small satellite design and testing through hands-on exercises on a CubeSat training model, the ESAT. These lab sessions are supervised by Theia Space and complemented by technical lectures, delivered by ESA experts. The aim of this Training Week is to allow university students, who are involved in a CubeSat mission or would like to develop one, to get acquainted to the hardware and software of a CubeSat and to the assembly, integration and verifications of a small satellite as well as all the testing required.
Schedule:
| Day 1 |
Welcome and Introduction Systems Engineering Principles FYS Programme |
| Day 2 |
Mission analysis Group Project Session 1 |
| Day 3 |
CubeSat Configuration Group Project Session 2 Electrical Power Supply |
| Day 4 |
Attitude Determination Control System Group Project Session 3 On-Board Data Handling |
| Day 5 |
Group Project Session 4 Communication Group Project Session 5 |
| Day 6 |
On-board Software Group Project Session 6 |
| Day 7 |
Assembly, Integration and Verification Group Project Session 7 |
| Day 8 |
Spacecraft Operations Group Project Session 8 |
| Day 9 |
Group Project Final Presentations Conclusion |
Online Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Operations Training Course 2021
Status: Call for applications closed. Training Course delivered.
Date: 30 August-10 September 2021
Description: The Training Course is delivered online, through 10 afternoon sessions. Taught by an ESA expert from the Advanced Operations Concepts Office of ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany, the course is offered through formal lectures without excessive mathematics or technical jargon, but with a heavy emphasis placed on the interaction with the students. Students learn about:
- the challenges of operating a spacecraft (as opposed to designing a spacecraft)
- the operator’s view on all the spacecraft subsystems and the design features to implement in order to operate them
- ‘physiological’ traps to be avoided during operations and testing
Schedule:
| Day 1 | Introduction - the difference between design and operations engineers |
| Day 2 |
Mission design and payloads Attitude Dynamic and Control Subsystems - part 1 |
| Day 3 | Attitude Dynamic and Control Subsystems - part 2 |
| Day 4 |
Operations Orbit Control System Power - part 1 |
| Day 5 | Group Project |
| Day 6 |
Power - part 2 Thermal Galileo |
| Day 7 |
ESEC Telemetry, Telecommunication & Command On Board Data Handling - part 1 |
| Day 8 |
On Board Data Handling - part 2 On Board Software Live pass |
| Day 9 | Group Project |
| Day 10 |
Wrap-up Evaluation ESA & ESA Education Programme Conclusion |
Online Space Systems Engineering Training Course 2021
Status: Closed. Training Course delivered.
Date: 12-20 July 2021
Description: During this seven-day training course, students are given a 'crash-course' in systems engineering and its applications within the space industry, in particular within ESA. The course provides an overview of the scope and context of systems engineering in general, before outlining the roles of a system engineer. The course further explores some key system engineering roles, such as requirements capture, architecture definition and verification and validation. The full space system life cycle is explored from a system engineering viewpoint. The course is delivered by current and former ESA experts with a wealth of experience in Earth-Observation projects, in the form of interactive lectures and group exercises. By the end of the course, students have an understanding of what systems engineering is, and what a systems engineer does throughout a space project lifecycle, as well as some of the key challenges they face!
Key topics:
- Scope and context of Systems Engineering
- What is Systems Engineering?
- How to represent a System
- The Space Programmatic Environment
- Tasks of a Systems Engineer
- Systems Engineering Process
- System Requirements
- How to define the architecture of a system, including trade-offs and specification
- Design of a space mission
- Development and Verification Approach
- Application of a real space project
- Systems Engineering and Project Management
- Process Management, Operations, and End of Missions
Online ESA/ELGRA Gravity-Related Research Summer School 2021
Status: Call for the applications closed. Summer School delivered.
Date: 21 June – 2 July 2021
Description: During this Summer School which is held online over 10 full days, university students are introduced to gravity-related research by ELGRA and ESA experts from across Europe. Throughout stimulating lectures about the current research under microgravity and hypergravity conditions in life and physical sciences, students appreciate the benefits of performing research at different g levels. Moreover, the students work within small groups to come up with potential ideas for future gravity-related experiment student projects, also with the benefit of the existing ESA Educational platforms such as the parabolic flights, the human centrifuge or the ISS.
Schedule:
| Week 1 (21-25 June 2021) | |
| Day 1 |
Introduction to ESA, its programmes and opportunities Introduction to ELGRA and SELGRA Gravity-related research overview Gravity and gravity-related research platforms ESA Education Office and hands-on programmes Develop a Gravity-Related Experiment Team Project Introduction |
| Day 2 |
Presentations by Former Student Teams of ESA Academy’s Hands-On Programmes Life Science Gravity-Related Research Lecture 1 Physical Science Gravity-Related Research Lecture 1 Human Physiology Gravity-Related Research Lecture 1 Team Work |
| Day 3 |
Life Science Gravity-Related Research Lecture 2 Physical Science Gravity-Related Research Lecture 2 Human Physiology Gravity-Related Research Lecture 2 Team Work |
| Day 4 |
Life Science Gravity-Related Research Lecture 3 Physical Science Gravity-Related Research Lecture 3 Human Physiology Gravity-Related Research Lecture 3 Team Work |
| Day 5 | Team Project Topic Pitch |
| Week 2 (28 June-2 July 2021) | |
| Day 6 |
Project Management Workshop Team Work Team Meetings with Tutors |
| Day 7 |
Systems Engineering and Requirements Definition Workshop Team Work Team Meetings with Tutors |
| Day 8-9 |
Team Work Team Meetings with Tutors |
| Day 10 |
Team Project Presentations Conclusion |
Online Space Debris Training Course 2021
Status: Call for the applications closed. Training Course delivered.
Date: 17-28 May 2021
Description: During this online training course which are held over 9 afternoon sessions, the university students are provided with an introduction to the concept of space debris, why it is necessary to address this issue and how the mitigation policies set by ESA apply to missions. The students do not only learn about the space debris environment and mitigation technologies, but also about how it affects spacecraft’s operations and the issues and solutions foreseen in the future. Taught by ESA experts, mainly from the ESA Space Debris Office, as well as external experts from the sector, the course is delivered online through formal technical lectures, which are complemented with hands-on exercises based on a real-life case study.
Schedule:
| Day 1 |
Introduction Forces Acting on a Space Object Space Debris Environment - Part 1 |
| Day 2 |
Space Debris Environment – Part 2 Space Debris: Legal & Regulatory Aspects Group Project Session 1 Mitigation Principles & Guidelines – Part 1 |
| Day 3 |
Mitigation Principles & Guidelines – Part 2 Deorbiting & Passivation technologies Space Debris Mitigation Context - Part 1 |
| Day 4 |
Space Debris Mitigation Context - Part 2 The Future of the Environment Group Project Session 2 |
| Day 5 |
Space Surveillance Collision Avoidance Operating in the Space Debris Environment |
| Day 6 |
Protection & Shielding Aerothermodynamic during re-entry - Part 1 Group Project Session 3 |
| Day 7 |
Aerothermodynamics during re-entry - Part 2 Simulation of Spacecraft Destruction during Atmospheric Re-entry On-ground Risk Estimation |
| Day 8 |
Group Project Session 4 Design for Demise Active Debris Removal |
| Day 9 |
Group Project Session 5 Conclusion Evaluation |
Online Clean Space Training Course 2021
Status: Call for the applications closed. Training Course delivered.
Date: 3-7 May 2021
Description: During this five-day online training course, university students familiarise with approaches to consider the environmental impact of the entire life cycle of a space mission. The course focuses on technologies to design a satellite which will not generate more debris, that will remove the ones already in orbit and that will be environmentally friendly. The online lecture sessions provide the necessary knowledge and tools to develop in teams a ‘clean’ satellite during the group project.
| Day 1 |
Welcome and Introduction Clean Space Overview Life Cycle Assessment & EcoDesign Group Project 1: Baseline mission and Environmental impacts assessment |
| Day 2 |
Space Debris Mitigation Requirements & Implication in the Spacecraft Design Re-entry Strategies Passivation: Propulsion & Power Group Project 2: Comply with Space Debris Mitigation requirements, Part 1 Legal Aspects |
| Day 3 |
Design for Demise: why and how? Group Project 2: Comply with Space Debris Mitigation requirements, Part 2 On-Orbit Servicing Close Proximity Operations ESA & ESA Education Programme |
| Day 4 |
Active Debris Removal Overview Group Project 3: Remove your satellite from orbit Guidance, Navigation and Control for Capturing Robotics for Capturing |
| Day5 |
Design for Removal Final Group Project: Clean the mega constellations! Final Group Presentations |
Online Earth Observation Satellite System Design Training Course 2021
Status: Call for the applications closed. Training Course delivered.
Date: 22 March – 2 April 2021
Description: The aim of this online training course is to provide university students with insights on the entire development of an Earth Observation satellite, from the definition of the initial requirements to the final in-orbit verifications, including risks assessment and ground operations, and with an emphasis on the sizing of the Earth Observation instruments. Taught by current and former ESA experts and external experts, this course is delivered through formal online lectures, which are complemented by a group project, where the students design a simple Earth Observation satellite.
Schedule:
| Day 1 |
Introduction to Earth Observation (EO) and EO Satellite Systems Introduction to Remote Sensing Techniques |
| Day 2 | From Observation Requirements to System Requirements Orbit Selection and Launcher Alternatives Orbit and Coverage Simulation (Group Project session 1) |
| Day 3 | Electromagnetic Wave Theory and Antennas Radar Remote Sensing |
| Day 4 | Microwave Radiometry Microwave Instruments Design (Group Project session 2) Basics of Space Optics |
| Day 5 | Passive Optical Payloads Space Lidars Optical Instrument Design (Group Project session 3) |
| Day 6 | Risk Management and Technology Development Satellite System Design & Payload Accommodations |
| Day 7 | Space Segment Design (Group Project session 4) Ground Segment & Operations Concepts |
| Day 8 | On-Ground Assembly, Integration and Verification Launch Campaign In-Orbit Verification System Design (Group Project session 5) |
| Day 9 | Development of Applications based on EO Data Climate Monitoring using EO Data System Design (continued) |
| Day 10 | Group Project final presentations |
Online Introduction to Space Law Training Course 2021
Status: Call for the applications closed. Training Course delivered.
Date: 1-5 March 2021
Description: During this five day-online-training course, students are provided with an introductory overview of space law, why it is necessary today to regulate space activities and how it applies practically to space missions, from the smallest of projects like a university’s CubeSat project, the most famous feats of space endeavours like human spaceflight and the International Space Station right through to forward-looking questions like planetary defence.
By the end of this programme, students appreciate the importance of law in the realisation of a space mission and they will have an overview of the international legal frameworks which governs the space activity today.
Key Topics:
- Introduction to the Core Principles and Concepts of Space Law
- Space law and the United Nations
- Overview of national space laws in Europe and beyond
- Anatomy of a typical national space law
- Legal Aspects during the life cycle of a space mission: from licensing to re-entry Insurance aspects and contracting practices
- Space objects from CubeSats to Mega-Constellations
- Space law and international cooperation
- Space safety, sustainability and environmental protection
- The future of space law: how to keep up with progress and promises
Online Gravity-Related Experiments Training Week 2021
Status: Closed. Training Week delivered.
Date: 25 January – 3 February 2021
Description: The aim of this online training week is to better prepare selected university student teams for their participation in the ESA Academy’s Fly Your Thesis!, Drop Your Thesis! and Spin Your Thesis! Programmes, by providing them with the information and basic knowledge that is required to design, develop, test, and perform a gravity-related scientific experiment or technology demonstration. The idea is to optimise the transfer of know-how and expertise from the experts in the field to the students, before their experiment campaigns, through lectures, workshops and meetings with the experts. Hence, the objective is to increase the quality of collected data and the success rate of the students’ hands-on projects.
Online Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Communications Training Course 2021
Status: Call for the applications Closed. Training Course delivered.
Date: 11 – 22 January 2021
This training course consists of formal lectures with lots of interaction with the students and is provided by an ESA Engineer belonging to the Advanced Mission Concepts and Management Support Office of the Mission Operations Department of ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. He relays real stories of operations engineers battling wayward spacecraft – sometimes winning and sometimes losing. The way communications systems are designed can have a crucial impact on how they are used and on what problems can occur!
The students learn about ESA’s European space Security and Education Centre (ESEC) and the activities performed on site, including Galileo and PROBA spacecraft’s operations.
At the end of the training course, the students have a solid understanding of the challenges of communicating with a spacecraft and the subsystems involved in communications (both on-board and on the ground): what can go wrong, troubleshooting, and traps to be avoided during operations and testing.
Schedule:
| Day 1 | Introduction |
| Day 2 |
The Challenge Modulation (Part 1) |
| Day 3 |
Modulation (Part 2) Demodulation |
| Day 4 |
Coding ESA & ESA Education Programme |
| Day 5 |
Protocols Transmission (Part 1) |
| Day 6 |
Transmission (Part 2) Reception |
| Day 7 |
Real Ground Stations Wrap-up Introduction to Galileo Programme |
| Day 8 |
Presentation of ESEC Conclusion Evaluation |