Two students from the University of Malta were selected to participate, for the first time, in a training course organised by the European Space Agency (ESA). Maria Aquilina, a fourth-year student studying Mathematics and Physics within the Faculty of Science and Christopher Conrad, who has recently completed his undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Malta were among thirty students to be selected for the ESA Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Operations 2022 in person, together with another sixteen foreign students who followed the training course online. The training course spanned over four days between 20 and 23 September, and was held at the ESA ESEC-Galaxia (European Space Security & Education Centre) in Transinne, Belgium.

These students were introduced in greater detail to the various subsystems which a spacecraft requires to operate efficiently. Such subsystems include the Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem which deals with sensors and actuators as well as the different modes employed, the Orbit Control System, different Power Generation systems, Thermal systems and particularly Telemetry, Telecommunication and Command systems on board the spacecraft. Students also had the opportunity to learn about the On Board Data Handling systems which deal with data processing, storing and data accessing as well as the On Board Software used.

The training course was delivered by Mr David Evans, a Mission Operations Concept Engineer within the Advanced Operations Concepts Office of ESOC (European Space Operations Centre). Mr Evans’ career spans over 30 years in the sector, throughout which he has acquired many different experiences. Different anecdotes and episodes from his career were discussed in the different scenarios at hand and students could make easy connections in order to avoid such failures in the given tasks or on their workbench.

Students also had the opportunity to visit the site at ESEC-Redu in Belgium’s Ardennes region. In this site, a range of satellites are controlled and tested, and this is also where the Space Weather Data Centre is hosted. During their site visit, students learned more about ESA’s PROBA missions such as PROBA-1, PROBA-2, PROBA-V, and the GALILEO mission.

 Photo: The students working in a group project

The training course was also assessed by a twenty-minute simulation of an ongoing operation, in which a group of 10 students were presented with a failure and were required to run tests in order to isolate and resolve the fault leading to mission success. Such real-life scenarios aided the students to appreciate better the complexity of spacecraft operations and the importance for missions to be carried out meticulously.