ESA Education

Lee began writing for ESA's Education Office in 2017. He has produced over 100 course reports and articles, in addition to editing and proofing educational resources.

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Lift-off for EIRSAT-1, Ireland’s first ever satellite

Six years of hard work and dedication paid off in spectacular fashion today, as the Educational Irish Research Satellite, EIRSAT-1, successfully blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Hitching a ride on a Space-X Falcon-9 launcher, the tiny satellite – measuring just 10.7cm x 10.7cm x 22.7cm – has now made history as Ireland’s first satellite!

EIRSAT-1 was designed, built, and tested by students from University College Dublin (UCD) participating in ESA Academy’s Fly Your Sate
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Calling all radio amateurs – be the first to hear satellite EIRSAT-1 from orbit

The Educational Irish Research Satellite, EIRSAT-1, is a 2-unit CubeSat from University College Dublin. Part of ESA Academy’s Fly Your Satellite! programme, it is scheduled to launch on 1 December at 18:19 UTC (19:19 CET). EIRSAT-1 will downlink in the UHF band, and radio enthusiasts from around the world are invited to help listen to the first signs of activity from the satellite in orbit!

EIRSAT-1 is expected to be injected into a +/-520-km Sun-Synchronous Orbit approx. 90 minutes after launc
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EIRSAT-1 team discovers what it takes to be Spacecraft Operators

EIRSAT-1 is Ireland’s first satellite, designed and built by students from University College Dublin participating in ESA Academy’s Fly Your Satellite! programme. Scheduled for launch in November 2023, once EIRSAT-1 is in space the student team will act as Spacecraft Operators, ensuring the satellite is safe, performing within parameters, and on track to complete its objectives. They will also have responsibility for diagnosing and resolving any issues that may arise during the mission.

To trai
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ESA Academy teams up with TU Darmstadt to run the 2023 Concurrent Engineering Workshop

40 ambitious university students have just completed ESA Academy’s Concurrent Engineering Workshop 2023, held between 18 and 22 September. This was the 10th edition of the Concurrent Engineering Workshop, but the first time it has been run in collaboration with the Technical University of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt).

ESA Academy collaborated with ESALab@TUDarmstadt to organise a special edition of the Concurrent Engineering Workshop. The week began with an introduction to Concurrent Engineering, w
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Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster teams begin Baseline Design Reviews

Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster is an educational programme for university student teams that have a preliminary CubeSat design. ESA offers the students support and expert advice, guiding them through the stages necessary to develop an initial idea into a robust final plan. A key milestone within this process is a Baseline Design Review, which helps flag issues and ultimately empowers students to make effective design choices.

The Baseline Design Review is tailored from the ESA standard revi
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Shaky times for the SOURCE CubeSat

The Stuttgart Operated University Research CubeSat for Evaluation and Education, or SOURCE for short, is a mini-satellite designed and built by students taking part in the third cycle of Fly Your Satellite! Its ambitious mission will see it operate around 500km above Earth’s surface to test several technologies, as well as conducting atmospheric measurements during re-entry. However, first the satellite and its team must undertake a series of intensive tests to maximise their mission’s chances o
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Students program Mars rovers in brand new ESA Academy Robotics Workshop

The objective was to facilitate students learning about the design and operation of planetary robots for space exploration. Lectures, tutorials, and hands-on exercises were all used to great effect, and, in particular, time was foreseen for the students to use ROS2 (Robot Operating System).

The students were split into groups, each receiving an ExoMy rover - a 3D-printed robot inspired by the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover featuring six wheels, a camera, and a Raspberry Pi computer. “It was an
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30 university students complete Human Space Physiology Training Course 2022

Lectures were delivered by a dedicated team of 16 experts from ESA and various research institutes and universities across Europe. The topics ranged from the history of human spaceflight, the future of human exploration; and how medical operations are currently provided to European Astronaut on the International Space Station, including exercise countermeasures; and how key areas of space physiology research is conducted, both in orbit and using ground-based analogues. “It was a wonderful week,
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Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster pilot selects CubeSat teams

Earlier this year ESA Academy announced the expansion of the established programme Fly Your Satellite! (FYS) with two new derivatives, Design Booster and Test Opportunities. Unlike previous editions of Fly Your Satellite!, these pilot programmes are time constrained and focused specifically on supporting and consolidating a detailed design, in the case of FYS Design Booster, and the preparation and execution of an environmental campaign in Test Opportunities. The FYS Design Booster timeline is s
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80 international students attend first ever Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster Training Week

With the Design Booster programme, ESA Academy targets new audiences and enable less experienced teams to progress in the steep learning curve which is a satellite mission. In the call proposals, student teams were invited to reflect how their mission objectives were aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the ESA technological roadmaps. Teams showed great ambition and foresight, proposing missions aligning with new and emerging trends in the space sector, often aiming to address t
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Good vibrations for the 3Cat-4 CubeSat team on their preparation for launch

3Cat-4 is a 1U CubeSat equipped with a Flexible Microwave payload. It will conduct Earth Observation, using GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Reflectometry and L-band microwave radiometry, and it will also carry a receiver of AIS (Automatic Identification Services) messages used by vessel traffic services. The student team is part of the Nanosat Lab, an initiative from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

3Cat-4 team performing a visual inspection of the CubeSat between runs of the
ESA Education •

Good vibrations for the 3Cat-4 CubeSat team on their preparation for launch

3Cat-4 is a 1U CubeSat equipped with a Flexible Microwave payload. It will conduct Earth Observation, using GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Reflectometry and L-band microwave radiometry, and it will also carry a receiver of AIS (Automatic Identification Services) messages used by vessel traffic services. The student team is part of the Nanosat Lab, an initiative from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

3Cat-4 team performing a visual inspection of the CubeSat between runs of the
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Teams selected for the pilot edition of Fly Your Satellite! Test Opportunities

Following a call for proposals and careful selection process, two university teams have now been chosen to participate in the pilot edition of the Fly Your Satellite! Test Opportunities programme. This is designed to give students valuable support and training in conducting an environmental test campaign of their devices.

Candidate student teams worked hard to prepare proposals that were reviewed by Fly Your Satellite! and CubeSat Support Facility staff, with two teams finally being selected fo
ESA Education •

Concurrent Engineering takes students to Venus!

The workshop aimed to familiarise students with the Concurrent Engineering approach and its many benefits for spacecraft design. Participants would also gain experience with the COncurrent Model-based dEsign Tool (COMET) used in ESA’s CDF. On the first day, the students received their challenge: to use Concurrent Engineering to design a mission and send a floating platform and a spacecraft to Venus. Since Venus exhibits similar properties as Earth in size and density, it provides a natural labor
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ESA Academy’s very first CubeSat Summer School is a success

The first two weeks also featured 45 students livestreaming the lectures to learn about the fundamentals of Space Engineering. “I feel immensely grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend this Summer School as a livestream student”, explained a Spanish student from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. “This experience has allowed me to learn about CubeSat engineering from the most knowledgeable experts, and has connected me to a network of young, talented people as passionate about s
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Students delved into the world of operations with the Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Operations Training Course!

The objective was to teach students how to think like operators, giving them a comprehensive overview of spacecraft subsystems and operations. Content was delivered by a senior ESA Engineer from the Operations Department. “Perhaps the most valuable part of the course was the trainer’s experience and storytelling ability,” explained a British student from the University of Bristol. “For every single component or process, he had an example of a mission where it had failed, and he used this to star
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Ireland’s first satellite undergoes environmental test campaign

EIRSAT-1 itself is a 2-unit CubeSat participating in the second cycle of ESA’s Fly Your Satellite! Programme. It has a number of mission objectives, including studying gamma-ray bursts; analysing the performance of novel surface treatments; and determining the potential of an attitude control algorithm as an alternative to standard Attitude Determination and Control methods. EIRSAT-1 is also noteworthy as being Ireland’s first ever satellite. Following a successful assembly and integration, the
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Triumph as the LEDSAT team complete their adventure with Fly Your Satellite!

LEDSAT joined the second round of Fly Your Satellite! in 2017. Their mission objective was innovative to say the least: use tiny LED lights attached to the CubeSat’s exterior to flash when in Earth’s shadow, allowing ground stations to ascertain how the satellite is oriented in space.

The LEDSAT students then discussed the lessons they have learned, ranging from technical, to programmatic, and educational aspects. This showed how valuable the programme has been to the students and allowed them
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ESA/ELGRA Gravity-Related Research Summer School 2022 blends online and in-person learning to inspire university students

The Summer School aimed to offer an overview of current research under microgravity and hypergravity conditions in both life and physical sciences, exposing students to the benefits of performing research and technology demonstrations in altered gravity conditions. A host of ESA and ELGRA international experts contributed as trainers giving engaging lectures as well as technology demonstrations. “The ESA/ELGRA Summer School has been an incredible opportunity to learn about the effects of microgr
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Student applications now open for ESA Academy’s first ever Robotics Workshop!

ESA Academy are proud to announce that eligible university students may now apply for the first ever Robotics Workshop, to be held from 7 to 10 November 2022 at the ESA Education Training Centre, ESEC-Galaxia, Transinne, Belgium. This Workshop has been developed by ESA’s Education Office together with experts from the ESA Planetary Robotics Lab .

Planetary exploration is a fascinating sector that ESA is investing heavily in, with projects including the pioneering Rosetta mission to a comet, the
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Fly Your Satellite! team EIRSAT-1 have successfully assembled their Flight Model!

EIRSAT-1 is an ambitious 2-unit CubeSat designed and built by students from University College Dublin. Part of the Fly Your Satellite! programme, it is hoped that one day soon it will fly into space – but not before all the necessary tests have been undertaken. The team recently completed an intense environmental qualification campaign, and have now taken another important step forward by finishing their Flight Model’s assembly and integration.

"The Flight Model integration activities took plac
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SOURCE team test their CubeSat’s “voice” during Fly Your Satellite! antenna test campaign

From 31 May to 2 June 2022, four students from the University of Stuttgart’s SOURCE team embedded themselves within the CATR (Compact Antenna Test Range) at ESTEC in the Netherlands. As a Fly Your Satellite! third edition team, they have been busy building and testing their three-unit CubeSat prior to launch into space.

Happy students with ESA personnel and their CubeSat The students brought with them a “look-alike” satellite mock-up, closely matching their real design’s external dimensions. On
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Ready, set, GO! for the return of ESA Education’s e-technology lab teacher workshops

Located at ESEC in Belgium, the e-technology lab has a proven track record of empowering teachers, boosting their confidence, and equipping them with skills and knowledge to help inspire students. Separate workshops will be available to suit Primary or Secondary teachers, with one of each expected to be scheduled monthly. ESA Education workshops are designed to follow inquiry-based learning methodologies, in order to promote active learning in the classroom, with a special focus on challenge-bas
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ESA Academy’s Online Space Debris Training Course 2022 immerses University students in the challenges of space debris

The goal of this training course was to introduce attending students to the concept of space debris, why it is a problem, and what can be done about it. "The Online Space Debris Training Course is a full immersion activity in space debris,” explained a Spanish student from Cranfield University, “giving you the opportunity to explore a wide variety of topics involving space debris from the perspective of real ESA scientists and engineers. Understanding the impact of space debris and the current g
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