Concurrent Design Facility

The Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) is the European Space Agency main assessment center for future space missions and industrial review. Located at ESTEC, ESA's technical center in Noordwijk in The Netherlands, it has been operational since early 2000.

As suggested by its name, the CDF uses concurrent engineering methodology to perform effective, fast and cheap space mission studies. Equipped with a state-of-the-art network of computers, multimedia devices and software tools, the CDF allow team of experts to perform design studies during working sessions.

Activities

The CDF is mainly in charge of performing the assessment studies of future missions for the European Space Agency. These assessment studies are phase 0 or pre-phase A studies where the needs are identified and Mission Analysis is performed. Phase 0 allows the following :

• Identification and characterisation of the intended mission.
• Expression in terms of needs, expected performance and dependability and safety goals.
• Assessment of operating constraints, in particular as regards the physical and operational environment.
• Identification of possible system concepts, with emphasis on the degree of innovation and any critical aspect.
• Preliminary assessment of project management data (organisation, costs, schedules).

In addition, the CDF often perform reviews of industrial contracts initiated by ESA.

Last but not least, the CDF has been used for several occasions for Tiger team activities as well as for the preparation of project documentation (such as Invitation To Tender, Statement of work and System Requirements Specification).

Current main activities

In addition of the "normal" studies, the CDF is currently being used as the assesement center for the ESA Cosmic Vision program.

A replacement of the CDF-IDM is currently being implemented, this is the Open Concurrent Design Server. For more information on OCDS visit the User Community Website.

List of Assessment Studies

Year	Title	Customer
2009	Nanosat	DTEC/GSP
	IXO Telescope	DSRE/GSP
	MarsGEN	DSRE/GSP
	ECOSAT	ESA GSP
	MarsREX	DSRE/GSP
	MiniMEX	DTEC/GSP
	MarsLEV	DSRE/GSP
	De-Orbit	DTEC/GSP
	Automated Identification System (AIS)	ESA Telecomms
	MoonSAV	ESA Human Space Flight/GSP
	MoonNext DSR	ESA Human Space Flight/GSP
	Meteron	ESA OPS
2008	Mars Electric Propulsion(MEP)	DTEC/GSP
	Marco Polo - Near Earth Object	ESA Science/GSP
	Euclid - Dark Energy Study	ESA Science/GSP
	AirQualSat - Model (AQS)	DTEC/GSP
	SPICA/SAFARI Telescope	ESA Science/GSP
	XEUS - Xray Telescope	ESA Science/GSP
	LaPlace - Jupiter Moons Study	ESA Science/GSP
	Tandem - Two Probe Mission to Titan	ESA Science/GSP
	Space Exploration Architecture	ESA Human Spaceflight
	Sentinel 5 Precursor	EOP/GSP
	Slush - Densified Propellant	Launchers
	Xray Telescope (IXO)	ESA Science/GSP
	Accurate	EOP/GSP
2007	Air Traffic Management Demonstration Payload (ATMDP)	Telecom/GSP
	System-on-Chip (SoC)	DTEC/GSP
	Near Earth Object Monitoring(SANCHO)	ESA Advanced Concepts Team/GSP
	Jupiter Radiation Study (JURA)	ESA Science
	Cosmic Microwave Polarisation Mapper(CMPM)	ESA Science
	Comsat for Air Traffic Management (IRIS)	TEN-A
	Lunar Sample Return (LSR)	ESA Human Spaceflight
	Mars Technology Demonstrator (MARSNeXT)	ESA Human Spaceflight
	Near Earth Object Review (DQS)	ESA Advanced Concepts Team/GSP
	Nuclear Thermal Rocket Propulsion (NUM)	LAU-PAD/GSP
	Vegetation Gap Filler (VGT)	DTEC/GSP
	Transiting Exoplanet Survey- PLATO (Cosmic Vision)	ESA Science/GSP
	Earth Plasma Study - Cross Scale (Cosmic Vision)	ESA Science/GSP
	Space Exploration Architecture (AES)	ESA Human Spaceflight
2006	RAM Electric Propulsion (RAM EP)	DTEC/GSP
	In Orbit Demonstrator(IOD)	DTEC/GSP
	European Student Moon Orbiter(ESMO)	ESA/GSP
	Small Geostationary Telecommunication Satellite(SGEO)	ESA/TEC Telecommunications
	Configuration REvisit Targeting Europa (CRETE)	ESA Science
	Wireless Technology for Spacecraft(WiFLY)	DTEC/GSP
	Long Term Cryogenic Propulsion (LTCP)	DTEC/GSP
	Far Infrared Interferometer(FIRI)	ESA Science
	Wide Field Interferometer(WFI)	ESA Science
	Cross-Track Scanner Microwave Radiometer (XMWR)	ESA Earth Observation
2005	Lunar Robotic Mission (LES 3)	ESA Exploration
	Jupiter Entry Probe (JEP)	ESA Science
	Formation Flying (PROBA 3)	DTEC/GSP
	Space Alternative Energy Storage Systems (SPAESS)	Advanced Concepts Team
	VEGA 1 Payload	DLAU, DTEC & Education
	Near Earth Objects (NEO2 [1])	Advanced Concepts Team/GSP
	Lunar Cargo Transport System (LES CTS)	ESA Exploration
	BeagleNet	ESA Exploration
	Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLLV)	ESA Launchers/GSP
2004	Near-Earth Objects Precursor Mission (NEO1 [2])	ESA Advanced Concepts Team/GSP
	Lunar Exploration Study 1 (LES)	ESA Exploration
	Atmospheric Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM)	ESA Human Spaceflight
	Mars DemoLander 2 (MDL)	ESA GSP
	X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy 2 (XEUS)	ESA Science
	X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy 1 (XEUS)	ESA Science
	Sub mm Wave Instrument (SWI)	ESA GSP/Technical Directorate
	Europa Low Resource Radar (ELRR)	ESA Science
	Mars DemoLander 1 (MDL)	ESA GSP
	VEGA evolution with electric propulsion (E-VEGA)	ESA Technical Directorate/Launchers/GSP
	ExoMars Phase B preparation - Specifications	ESA Aurora
	Solar Orbiter 2 - Composite option pre-assessment	ESA Science
	Human Spaceflight Vision (HSV) - European man-tended Moon base	ESA Human Spaceflight
	Socrates - Reusable launcher demonstrator	ESA Launchers
	Human Missions to Mars	ESA Aurora
2003	International Microgravity Plasma Facility (IMPACT)	ESA Human Spaceflight
	AeroCapture Demonstrator Earth and Mars	ESA Aurora
	Mars Sample Return	ESA Aurora
	Mars Network Science - Probe network on Mars surface	ESA Science
	Crew Transportation Vehicle (CTV) - Soyuz design enhacement	ESA Human Spaceflight
	Crew Transportation Vehicle (CTV) - Model and validation	ESA GSP
	P Band Sounder Instrument design for Antartica (P-Sounder) - First CDF IDA	ESA Earth Observation
2002	ISS Droplet Combustion Insert (DCI) - Support to industrial Phase A	ESA Human Spaceflight
	Rosita - Telescope accommodation outside Columbus module	ESA Human Spaceflight
	EXOMARS 09 DM - Mars Exobiology Descent Module	ESA Aurora
	EXOMARS 09 - A second Mars Exobiology mission design	ESA Aurora
	BepiColombo All-SEPM Delta Study - Reaching Mercury with electric propulsion	ESA Science
	Mars Exobiology - European mission to search for life on Mars	ESA Aurora
2001	ISS Dusty Plasma Facility - Support to industrial Phase A	ESA Human Spaceflight
	EUROPA - Preliminary assessment	ESA GSP
	Space Weather - Three elements service monitoring the solar-terrestrial environment	ESA GSP/Technical Directorate
	Ocean Earth Watch - Operational mission for ocean and coastal zone monitoring	ESA Earth Observation
2000	Hyper Precision Atom Interferometry in Space	ESA Science
	STORMS - 3x Constellation for Magnetosphere Storms	ESA Science
	MASTER - Mars and Asteroid Mission	ESA Science
	Eddington - Stellar Physics and Planet Finder Telescope	ESA Science
	World Space Observatory (WSO/UV)	ESA Science
	Mercury Surface Element (MeSE)	ESA Science
	Meteo Imager Sounder Satellite (MISS)	ESA Earth Observation/Eumetsat
1999	Solar Orbiter - Study of the Sun and Inner Heliosphere	ESA Science
	Central European Satellite for Advanced Research (CESAR'99)	Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)

List of Reviews

Year	Title	Customer
2006	Don Quijote Mid-Term Review	DTEC/GSP
	Review of Europa Industrial Studies (REIS)	ESA Science
2004	PASTEUR - Industrial Phase A mid term review	ESA Aurora
	Mars Sample Return (MSR) - Industrial Phase A mid term review	ESA Aurora
	Human Mission Russian review	ESA Aurora
	ExoMars - Industrial Phase A mid term review	ESA Aurora
	Entry Vehicle Demonstrator (EVD) review	ESA Aurora
2003	KEO review	ESA GSP
2002	BepiColombo - Review of industrial studies	ESA Science
	Mars Exobiology - Review of the Babakin Study	ESA Aurora
2001	Satellite Test of the Equivalence Principle (STEP) - Review of industrial study	ESA Science
	Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) - Review of industrial study	ESA Science
	Laser Interferometer Space Antenna - Review of the industrial study	ESA Science

Facility

The CDF design room has been designed and equipped with all the relevant hardware and software tools, with the aim of creating an effective communication and data interchange environment among team members.

The CDF facility contains:

• an array of design stations, each dedicated to a specific technical discipline
• data and application servers, providing on-line access to design data and tools
• a multimedia wall containing three large projector screens (One of them been a SMART Board for free hand drawing)
• video-conferencing equipment that enables concurrent engineering to be carried out in a distributed manner
• integrated design model CDF-IDM, which will be replaced in the near future by the Open Concurrent Design Server

See also

• Concurrent Engineering
• NASA
• CNES - French Space Agency
• ASI - Italian Space Agency
• German Aerospace Center - DLR

External links

• ESA CDF website [3]
• CDF published reports [4]
• J-CDS JAQAR Concurrent Design Services
• DLR System Analysis and Space Segments