This course was developed in collaboration with ESA’s Product Assurance and Safety Department and will equip 30 University students with knowledge in Product Assurance (PA). Experts will teach them how this knowledge is implemented in a space project not only in ESA but also in the Space Industry.
PA engineers are a crucial part of mission implementation. They are responsible for ensuring that materials, mechanical parts, processes, and electrical components used in spacecraft and launchers are fit for their purpose over the entire lifetime of the mission.
Given the nature and importance of this role, ESA’s PA engineers are required to have a different mentality than the other team members. While “thinking outside the box” is a cliché for some people, it is absolutely essential for PA engineers. These engineers need exceptionally high levels of perception, forethought, and imagination to anticipate problems and pre-emptively save missions from failure.
Students working on an exercise with a trainer during an ESA Academy training course
Students working on an exercise with a trainer during an ESA Academy training course
This course is designed to attract the next generation of specialists needed to fulfil these vital positions. Run by ESA’s current PA managers and discipline experts, it allows the students to discover, through interactive lectures, how PA is an integral part of engineering activities, playing a role in the development, design, test philosophy, building, and operation of systems. The trainers also instil in students the unique ethos at the heart of every successful PA engineer. For this new edition, the students will also be exposed to the PA perspectives and experiences from the Space Industry.
Preliminary Schedule
Day 1 Welcome and Introduction
Overall context of Space Projects
General Introduction to the Course
Quality Management and Assurance
Day 2 Dependability and Safety
Supply Chain Management
Day 3 Software Product Assurance
Materials & Processes
Day 4 EEE Components
Radiation HardnessAssurance
Product Assurance in Space Business
ESA Certification Schemes
Conclusion
