RSS feed 

In July 2008, ESA will host the Space Station Design Workshop (SSDW) in collaboration with the Institute of Space Systems (Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme, IRS) of the Universitaet Stuttgart.

The SSDW provides an opportunity for the multidisciplinary conceptual design of space stations and other space infrastructures, in particular with interest towards human exploration of the Earth-Moon-Mars space. The workshop is intended to introduce students to conceptual design in a multinational, interactive, team-centred environment.

Two teams will compete against each other on a specific mission brief that will be released at the beginning of the workshop. The goal of the workshop is for students to do realistic work in space engineering, while also addressing other aspects related to space projects, such as architecture, economics and space law, as well as project and team management.

Students will use advanced design methodologies and software tools to achieve this goal. Students will receive guidance from IRS experts, and will also have the opportunity to speak with ESA experts on location.

The workshop runs from 13 to 18 July 2008 at ESTEC in the Netherlands. Participation is limited to university students from ESA Members States. The deadline to submit applications is 23 May 2008.

• See the full article [esa.int]
• SSDW 2008 web site [uni-stuttgart.de]

I've also cross-posted this to the students forums: http://forums.seds.org/showthread.php?t=3315. The thread regarding the ESA Young Graduate Trainee opportunities still has a lot of momentum, so perhaps those of you from ESA Member States that were interested in YGT might also want to discuss this new opportunity.

Good luck, and on the off chance that someone who wants to attend the workshop finds this post, I would be interested to hear more about the event if you attend it. The workshop sounds like something interesting we could learn from here in the US, and I'd like to write about it in the AAS magazine, Space Times [astronautical.org].