ESA cordially invites you to join the ESA Mission Operations Hands-On Experience at ESOC, Darmstadt.

Mission Operations at its best! The European Space Agency offers this unique 4-day course to bring to life the fascinating world of spacecraft operations with its unique challenges and need for excellent teamwork.

This course provides an insight into the secrets of ESA Space Mission Operation’s success, covering operations concepts, architecture and interfaces, the roles and responsibilities of the different teams, the mission planning and scheduling processes and the different challenges encountered in each mission phase. Finally, how to effectively manage spacecraft anomalies and contingency recovery operations will be discussed and later practised.

The course will be delivered through lectures by ESA experts specialised in the different mission operations domains. Real stories of operational staff battling with wayward spacecraft will be shared whenever appropriate. In addition to the lectures, the participants will gain hands-on experience in mission operations and will be able to immediately apply their gained knowledge during a challenging team simulation set in ESOC’s famous Main Control Room, the heart of ESA mission operations.

This intensive technical course focuses on sharing ESA’s vast know-how and expertise in operations with the participants. It is pitched towards professionals of all disciplines who want to quickly acquire a feeling for the broad spectrum of disciplines involved in space mission operations. This international and interactive working environment also provides an ideal networking opportunity for participants to connect and exchange experiences.

The ESA Mission Operations Academy is supported by:

We look forward to welcoming you to our ESA Mission Operations Academy!

Dates for ESA Mission Operations Academies:

Further Offers:

Training Services

• Individual blocks from the ESA Mission Operations Academy: Tailored to including extended sessions on selected aspects
• Mission Success First: Lessons Learned and ESA related mission stories
• Security by Design: How to protect Ground and Space Systems

Technical and operational assessment, consultancy, support service

• Support with Control Centre Development: Consulting services for developing and integrating a fully functioning Mission Operations Control Centre
• Support with Operation Assessments: Evaluations of mission readiness, training needs or a custom assessment to fit programme
• Support with Technical Documentation
• Support with Training Curriculum
• Expert support in reviews
• Engineering and Operations in support of Small Satellite missions
• In-flight laboratory test services

Facility provision services, including provision of backup

• ESOC / Redu Facilities to support space activities
• Facility provision service, SMILE

To register for one of the upcoming ESA Mission Operations Academies, please check the calendar at the link below.