Past opportunities 2016
Post-Alpbach School Summer School event 2016
21-24 November 2016
Status: Call for applications closed on 9 September 2016; only opened to students who participated in the Alpbach Summer School 2016; training course delivered
Description: Students got the opportunity to carry on working on the PoPSAT (Polar Precipitation SATellite) project proposed by the team Blue during the Alpbach Summer School 2016. The objective of this event was to prepare a scientific paper to be presented at an international conference or published in a scientific journal. Students were supported by ESA and external experts, and had the opportunity to use the ESA Academy's Concurrent Design Facility (CDF).
Schedule:
| Day 1 |
Guidelines for the event POPSAT presentation ESA Redu Centre visit Preparation for CDF session First CDF session |
| Day 2 |
Mission redefinition Second CDF session |
| Day 3 |
Preparation of oral presentation and draft article Conclusion of CDF sessions Delivery of preliminary oral presentation and draft article Review and feedback from tutors |
| Day 4 |
Integration of tutors comments Finalisation of oral presentation and draft article Visit of the Centre Spatial de Liège Final oral presentation |
Ladybird Guide to Space Operations training course 2016
11-14 October 2016
Status: call for applications: closed; training course delivered.
Description: Students learnt 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
Taught by an ESA expert from the Advanced Operations Concepts Office of ESA’ European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany, the course was delivered through formal lectures without excessive mathematics or technical jargon, but with a heavy emphasis placed on the interaction with the students.
Schedule:
| Day 1 & 2 |
Introduction - the difference between design and operations engineers Mission design and payloads Attitude Dynamic and Control Subsystems Orbit Control System Power |
| Day 3 & 4 |
Power (Storage) Thermal Telemetry-Tracking and Control Subsystems Command and Control On-board processors On-board software and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery Group Exercise and Summary |
Concurrent Engineering Workshop 2016
20-23 September 2016
Status: call for applications closed; training course delivered
Description: Students learnt about concurrent engineering and its benefits for space missions. Guided by ESA experts, the students learnt to use the Open Concurrent Design Tool and identified design drivers. Divided into teams, they first created a subsystem concept to later achieve an already identified mission concept, function tree and product tree, using concurrent engineering. With this, students also contributed to beta-testing and improving ESA Academy Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) tools, whose development is under finalisation.
Schedule:
| Day 1 |
Introduction to the Mission and Concurrent Engineering Get familiar with Workbooks and OCDT Mission overview and Trade-Off Mission and System Modes Definition |
| Day 2 |
First iteration of all Subsystems. Modify Workbooks First Budgets Presentations of the first results |
| Day 3 |
Finalization of the Concept Product tree Budgets Presentation of the second iteration ESA Redu Centre Visit |
| Day 4 |
Final Design Consolidation & any Open Issues Preparing the Final Presentation Final Presentations |
ESA/ELGRA Gravity-Related Research Summer School 2016
27 June-2 July 2016
Status: call for applications closed; training course delivered
Description: The aim of this Summer School was to promote gravity-related research amongst future scientists and engineers and attract them to its multiple research opportunities available in the space sector. During this week, students had the opportunity to attend lectures, explaining the wide range of applications and advantages of performing life and physical sciences research at different gravity levels. Students learnt about the several existing platforms available for this type of research: from parabolic flights, to the human centrifuge, to the International Space Station (ISS). Students got the chance to work in small groups to come up with ideas for possible gravity-related experiments.
Schedule Overview:
| Day 1 |
Introduction to ESA, ESA programmes and opportunities Introduction to ELGRA and SELGRA Introduction to gravity-related research ESA Education Office and hands-on programmes Team project Visit of Redu Centre |
| Day 2 |
Life science research Physiology research Visit of Euro Space Centre |
| Day 3 |
Physical science research Develop a gravity-related experiment Team project |
| Day 4 |
Space project life cycle Former student projects Project management Visit of Centre Spatial de Liège Team project |
| Day 5 | Team project presentations |
ESA Hands-on experiment projects training week 2016
14-17 March 2016
Status: training course delivered
Description: The aim of this training week was to better prepare selected student teams for their participation in the ESA Academy Hands-on Space Projects’ Drop Your Thesis! and Spin Your Thesis! programmes, by providing them with the information and basic knowledge that they is required to design, develop, test, and perform a gravity-related scientific experiment or technology demonstration. The idea was 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 was to increase the quality of collected data and the success rate of the students’ hands-on projects.
Schedule Overview:
| Day 1 |
Introduction to ESA, ESA programmes and opportunities Student teams presentations Develop a scientific experiment SELGRA Physical sciences at different g levels |
| Day 2 |
Life sciences at different g levels Human Physiology at different g levels Former student projects Meet your experts (session 1) |
| Day 3 |
Meet your experts (session 2) Visit of Redu Centre System Engineering workshop |
| Day 4 |
Project and Risk Management workshop Experiment Automation workshop Outreach Workshop Inspirational lecture Visit of Euro Space Centre |