ESA is opening to all European space actors a course on EcoDesign and Life-Cycle Assessment for Space Systems.

Why should you you apply to the training?

If you want to:

  • understand how to apply EcoDesign and environmental Life-Cycle Assessment for space missions
  • know what are the environmental impacts of space missions
  • be able to develop technologies that will have a minimum impact on the environment
  • make environmental friendly space missions

Then you should definitely consider applying to participate to this training, which is for the first time opened to European space actors.

The environmental Life-Cycle Assessment and EcoDesign for space missions training will take place at ESA-ESTEC on Dec. 4 and 5, 2018. 

This 2-day training will teach you the basics of EcoDesign and LCA with a specific focus on how to apply these methods to space missions. 

On top of these principles, you will be presented with information about ESA’s past, on-going and future actions in the field of EcoDesign. At last, you will learn how to use the material that has been made available by ESA for European stakeholders to carry these activities. 

Credits: ESA/NASA

Description of the training on EcoDesign and environmental Life-Cycle Assessment for space missions

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a powerful method, standardized at international level by ISO, to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of products and services in a comprehensive and objective manner and from a multi-criteria life cycle perspective.

One important use of LCA is eco-design, which consists in integrating environmental performance as a design criterion in the development of a system, e.g. a space mission.

The training will notably aim at answering the following questions:

  • What are the main principles of LCA and life-cycle thinking?
  • What are the benefits of LCA and ecodesign?
  • What are the practical steps for carrying out a LCA?
  • What are the specificities of LCA and eco-design applied to the space sector?
  • What are the main environmental impacts of space missions?
  • How do we mitigate these environmental impacts?
  • How can sustainability be integrated in the design process of a space mission?
  • What have been done at ESA so far on the sustainability topic? Which material can we offer to European industry to perform LCA for space? Is there any eco-design option identified? What are the next steps?

The training will suit at best, space engineers, project controllers in space, legal advisers. Persons working in strategy and/or communication could also be interested if their work if focused on space activities. 

EcoDesigning a space mission
Credits: ESA

Some practical information:

Related content:

This post, ‘How to make environmental friendly space missions?‘, offers a glimpse of ESA’s objectives and knowledge in the field of ecodesign. In less than 5 minutes, you will grasp the main aspects of Life-Cycle Assessment and understand how complex it is to apply the method to space systems. It is a concise overview that will definitely help you be prepared for the training.