Earth Observation (EO) satellites deliver information which are a key to guiding the World population towards a sustainable society. They allow the monitoring of vegetation and agriculture to safeguard the preservation and usage of our limited resources into the future; provide rapid assessment of damages in case of disasters such as flooding and earthquake, and enable efficient assistance measures; make it possible to gain better understanding of urban development; and allow the monitoring of meteorological and environmental parameters essential for a thorough understanding of the evolution of Earth’s global-scale dynamics, i.e. its future climate.

During the course, students will become acquainted with the end-to-end design of an EO satellite system. They will start with requirements definition based on mission objectives, progressing to orbit trade-offs and design of the payload instruments (microwave and optical), followed by the satellite design, ground segment architecture and operations, verification & testing, all the way through to in-orbit testing!

The ESA Academy’s Earth Observation Satellite System Design Training Course has been developed by ESA’s Education Office, together with ESA’s EO system specialists and members of ARES, the Association of Retired ESA Staff. All the trainers delivering lectures have extensive experience in ESA EO system development, giving students a taste of what it is like to really work in the space sector.

Students enrolled in university who fulfil the following criteria: 

• aged minimum 18 years old. ESA Academy and relevant partners will only appraise applications from students who have no or limited professional experience in relevant engineering or space-related topics;
• be a citizen of an ESA Member State, Slovenia, Latvia or Canada;
• be enrolled as a full-time Master or PhD student in a university for the year 2020-2021 (not graduating before the training course);
• be studying for an engineering or science degree, and have a solid mathematics and physics background.

Students wishing to apply for the training course must submit their applications by 8 February 2021.

More about ESA's educational programme, educational plan and criteria - here.

More about VIRAC actual projects in cooperation with ESA - here.