Interested in CubeSats? Apply for the CubeSat Hands-On Training Week 2024
Have you ever dreamed of implementing your own CubeSat mission but did not know where to start? Have you imagined being part of a mission that will operate a CubeSat in orbit? ESA’s Education Office is inviting university student to apply for the CubeSat Hands-On Training Week to get the opportunity to improve their knowledge and skills on spacecraft hardware and software. The CubeSat Hands-On Training Week 2024 will be held from the 27th to 31st of May at ESA Academy’s Training and Learning Facility in ESEC-Galaxia, Transinne, Belgium.
This Training Week is a great opportunity for university students to get hands-on experience with CubeSats and to apply theoretical knowledge obtained from classroom lectures. In groups of two, students will have the opportunity to perform experiments on Educational Satellites (ESAT) and learn how subsystems work and interact with each other. These are 10cm x 10cm x 10cm models (similar to a 1U CubeSat) developed by Theia Space, with the specific aim of providing university students with hands-on experience. They will also discover how to conduct Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV), and how to handle tests using real hardware. The aim of the Training Week is to help students that have innovative ideas for educational CubeSat missions, or are working on CubeSat projects at a conceptual or preliminary stage. As an outcome, students will be able to inject the new knowledge gained from the training week into the early design phase of their CubeSat projects.
The focus throughout the Training Week, will be on hands-on learning with ‘’lab sessions’’ supervised by staff from Theia Space, which will be complemented by lectures on the various fields of CubeSat subsystems, testing and operations, delivered by ESA experts. As such, this Training Week is an ideal opportunity for students to become familiar with the Fly Your Satellite! programme.
Before coming to ESEC-Galaxia, the selected students will be required to perform some preliminary activities (reading material and exercises) for a duration of no more than 5 hours to better prepare for this Training Week.
Preliminary Schedule
| Day 1 |
Welcome and Introduction Fly Your Satellite! Programme and System Engineering Principles - Lecture Introduction to ESAT model - Lab Session Software – Lecture & Lab Session |
| Day 2 |
Software – Lab Session On-Board Data Handling (OBDH) - Lecture & Lab Session |
| Day 3 |
Electrical Power System (EPS) - Lecture & Lab Session AIV & Testing – Lecture Attitude Determination Control System (ADCS) - Lecture |
| Day 4 |
Assembly, Integration and Verification & Testing – Lab Session Attitude Determination Control System (ADCS) – Lab Session Spacecraft Communications – Lecture & Lab Session |
| Day 5 |
Spacecraft Operations - Lecture & Lab Session Conclusion |
Who can apply?
In order to participate, students must fulfil the following eligibility criteria at the time of application:
- aged 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 State, Canada*, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia or Slovenia.
- be enrolled as a Bachelor, Master, or PhD student in a university for the academic year 2023-2024 (not graduating before the Training Week);
- be studying an Engineering or Scientific subject (with good knowledge in space technology).
Selected students will be requested to attend the entire 5-day training week at ESEC-Galaxia. They will be sponsored by ESA to cover accommodation and meals, as well as up to 300 Euros for travelling to and from Belgium.
Students will be evaluated on their group work throughout the Training Week. Upon completion students will receive a certificate and course transcript, allowing them to request ECTS credits from their respective universities.
How to apply?
- Fill in the application form;
- Upload a motivation letter (PDF, maximum 1 page, no images);
- Upload a CV (PDF, Europass format, 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 (if it is not possible to receive the recommendation letter from your referee, please ask them to send a recommendation email to tlp@esa.int before the application deadline);
- Upload a copy of academic records (PDF).
All answers and documents should be in English (except academic records if not available).
The deadline for applications to participate in the CubeSat Hands-On Training Week 2024 is 11 March 2024, 23:59 CET.
For more information, please contact tlp@esa.int.