Space Exploration and Development Systems (SEEDS)

Programme

The course working language will be English.

The 2009/10 training programme will have an overall duration of 14-15 months for a total amount of 1792 hours and 90 credits.

The course attendance is mandatory and implies full time engagement from Monday to Friday (9.00-13.00;14.00-18.00).

The first 6 months (742 hours) will be spent either at Politecnico di Torino (SEEDS programme) or at ISAE-Supaero (TAS-Astro programme, see the SEEDS European website for details on the local application conditions) and will mainly consist of class lectures and exercises providing the general foundations of the various disciplines related to Space Exploration. Visits to National or European facilities as well as conferences and lectures of distinguished personalities are foreseen throughout this phase. The planned average class attendance is almost 36 hours/week.

The main subjects taught in Torino may divided in two categories. They are:

Understanding Space: Introduction to Space Basic Concepts

Space and planetary environment; Orbits and astrodynamics; Entry, descent, landing and ascent; Mission analysis; Space human engineering - Crew safety; Space utilization; Space system engineering I; Space programme management; Product and quality assurance; Planetary aerothermodynamics.
Learning about Space Systems: Fundamentals of Space Engineering

Space System engineering II; Space robotics; Space propulsion; Attitude determination, guidance and control; Environmental control - Life support; Thermal control; Space telecommunication; Power generation; Space materials and structures; Space avionics; Costs estimation; Launchers.

Learning assessments on all subjects are foreseen at the end of any lecture phase, possibly grouped to homogeneous clusters to be evaluated as a whole.

In the following 9 months (960 hours) the students approach the future Project Work Activities. Then they extensively develop the SEEDS Project Work under the guide of experienced senior tutors. Thanks to its extension this Project Work is one of the main characteristic features of SEEDS. It is divided into three phases, each one dedicated to a special aspect of the space exploration. A specific theme is identified every year (e.g. the preliminary design of a lunar outpost and that of a lunar permanent basis have been the themes of the first two SEEDS editions). Each Project Work phase lasts about two months and is dedicated to a specific aspect of the selected theme, taking also into account the locally available competences. The three phases are hosted in a temporal sequence by universities, industries and centres of the associated European towns. During the whole Project Work students from Torino and Toulouse are grouped together and work in cross-national teams. The Project Work itself is an advanced and ambitious activity, intended to lead to scientific reports to be diffused worldwide in the space community. On more than one occasion partial results have been presented by the students to international conferences. The activities performed during the 2006, 2007, and 2008 Project Works are described in the SEEDS PW Executive Summaries 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively (see the European SEEDS website for details).