ESA Space Methodologies Expand into North America

Training at the ESA Concurrent Design Facility at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in
in Noordwijk.

European Space Agency (ESA) methodologies for assessing space missions have crossed the Atlantic and are hunting down North American opportunities, with a little help from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). 

Brussels based RHEA Group, which opened a Montreal based branch office in September 2012, has announced that it will be offering a series of two and five day sessions on concurrent design methodologies to assess potential space missions.

According to a press release on the RHEA Canada website, the sessions will take place from June 24th - 28th in Montreal, utilize trainers from the ADGA Group of companies (one of Canada's largest engineering consulting firms) and be "undertaken with the financial support of the Canadian Space Agency."

Cedric Seynat, the manager of aerospace engineering at RHEA Canada.

The two day sessions will provide a high level overview of the methodologies while the five day course will allow enough time for the completion of an actual case study. 

According to Cedric Seynat, the manager of aerospace engineering at RHEA Canada, the concurrent design methodology "is designed to manage and combine multiple high level requirements into a series of multidisciplinary design sessions where experts exchange information in a structured and integrated way in order to come to useful conclusions."

Seynat sees a market for these services, initially with Canadian organizations like the CSA and satellite manufacturers, but also eventually with US satellite builders, once a certain critical mass of knowledgeable North American users is available.

The concurrent design approach is currently used by the ESA to assess between 10 -15 satellite designs per year and is also utilized by a number of commercial firms, including Astrium, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), major European universities and other organizations for a variety of projects.

The methodologies were originally developed at the Concurrent Design Facility, the ESA main assessment center for future space missions and industrial review.


For more information on the courses, or to register, please check out the RHEA Systems Canada website.