This year, ESA Academy collaborated with ESALab@TUDarmstadt to organise a special edition of the Concurrent Engineering Workshop. From 18 to 22 September 2023, university students will not only work on the space segment but also take cover the ground segment of their mission. To be part of this exciting journey you are welcome to apply as of now!
Working concurrently with students' teams abroad
Working concurrently with students' teams abroad
Concurrent engineering is a method used to design and develop products. Contrary to traditional design methods, in concurrent engineering all subsystems are designed simultaneously. 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 complicated process, to begin with, in effect it allows mistakes to be identified – and rectified – earlier, therefore reducing the overall design time.
ESA’s main Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) is located at ESA’s technology centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. However, within the framework of the ESA Academy programme, ESA has developed a similar facility exclusively for educational purposes, called Training and Learning Facility (TLF) which is located at ESA’s European Space Security and Education Centre (ESEC)-Galaxia in Transinne, Belgium.
Groups of students asking for expert advices
Groups of students asking for expert advices
In addition, as part of the ESA_LAB@ Initiative, the Concurrent Engineering Lab (CEL), a joint research laboratory of the Institut für Flugsysteme und Regelungstechnik (FSR) and ESA, was established in 2019 at the Technischen Universität Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt), in Germany. The CEL facilitates the development of innovative concepts in line with new trends such as shared and distributed, autonomous, and hybrid systems in the ground segment and operations.
This year, the students selected by ESA Education Office to participate in the Concurrent Engineering Workshop from the TLF will have the great opportunity to work concurrently with TU Darmstadt students attending from the CEL.
Guided by ESA and TU Darmstadt systems engineers, the students will learn about concurrent engineering and its benefits, gaining first-hand experience with the Concurrent Model-based Engineering Tool (COMET) and identifying design drivers. Students at ESEC-Galaxia will be in charge of the space segment of the project while the ones at the ESALab@TUDarmstadt will oversee the ground based segment.
Students at ESEC-Galaxia will be divided into groups and will cover the following disciplines:
Structures and Mechanisms
Configuration
Power
Thermal
Attitude and Orbital Control Systems (AOCS)
Propulsion
Optics and Sensors
Trajectory analysis
Communications
Data handling
Within their groups, students will create a subsystem concept in order to achieve their given mission and will have to budget their project. They will do several iterations of all the subsystems, review and present their ongoing work.
Students will be evaluated based on their group work throughout the week and presentations. Upon completion of the workshop, they will receive a certificate of participation as well as a transcript, allowing them to request ECTS credit(s) from their respective universities.
The week before the workshop, the selected students will receive some material and will follow a two-hour COMET tutorial to familiarize them with the tool.
