Press Release

Registration still open for ESA’s navigation summer school

By SpaceRef Editor
June 14, 2012
Filed under , ,

The full programme has been published for ESA’s navigation summer school, taking place in France this time next month. Registration remains open for now.

This year’s ESA International Summer School on Global Navigation Satellite Systems runs from 16 to 26 July. It takes place across two locations in France: the Institut Superieur de l’Aeronautique et de l’Espace(ISAE) in Toulouse hosts the first week, with events shifting to the historic Abbaye des Capucins in nearby Montauban for the second.

The two-week event offers students and young engineers and scientists from around the world a chance for a thorough grounding in satnav theory and practice.

Didier Faivre, ESA Director of the Galileo Programme and Navigation-related Activities, will welcome the students on the first day, while Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General, will give the inaugural lecture.

Other speakers include Ron Hatch of US-based NavCom, a satnav veteran who participated in the US Transit missions in the early 1960s, the very first satellite navigation programme and forerunner of GPS. For more details of the European and international experts lecturing the summer school, see http://www.munich-satellite-navigation-summerschool.org/

About ESA’s navigation summer school

The event will provide a comprehensive understanding of the design and development of satnav systems, ranging from the satellites in space to supporting mission segments, the receivers relied on by service end-users and the development of new applications.

The school is open to graduate students, PhD candidates and young professionals from industry and national agencies seeking to broaden their knowledge.

ESA is organising the event together with ISAE and the Universitaet der Bundeswehr Muenchen (ISTA) in Germany, in cooperation with Technical University Graz in Austria, with the support of the French space agency CNES and the City of Toulouse.

Along with lectures on fundamental principles by leaders in the field, the summer school provides knowledge on current and future developments regarding technical issues such as performance augmentation, sensor fusion and indoor positioning and applications for transportation, environment, leisure and other services.

A project competition aims to encourage innovative ideas, supported by lectures on teamwork and leadership as well as on business and policy issues.

The programme also includes technical visits and an Excursion to Albi (Cathedral, Archibishop Palace, Toulouse-Lautrec Museum). The school is part of ESA’s Education in Navigation programme – a joint venture between ESA’s Education Office and the Directorate of the Galileo Programme and Navigation-related Activities – which supports technical satnav training.

SpaceRef staff editor.