ESA Academy's Concurrent Engineering Challenge 2018 | Ioannis Takis

The Concurrent Engineering Challenge 2018 was held from the 22^nd to the 26^thof October 2018 and our team member, Ioannis Takis, took part in this training course and  this is his experience: 
“A casual scrolling on the internet, pure interest for space, a little luck, an appetite for work and a mood to learn, as it turns out, are able to lead you to the most unlikely places. Well, this happened to me and late October I joined ESA Academy’s Concurrent Engineering Challenge 2018, which took place at ESA Academy’s Training and Learning Facility in Belgium. Undoubtedly, it was an experience with amazing learning opportunities, an experience that motivates you, challenges you, forces you to stop working alone and listen, observe, cooperate. It really was an experience that made you a better engineer in all aspects. The first day of the challenge week found us seated at 8:30 am in the Education Concurrent Design Facility where the challenge took place. After a series of introductory lectures about the facility and some safety issues, the challenge started. An easy and smooth day one was soon followed by a demanding Tuesday in which the satellite design really began. The aim was to design a satellite (or a satellite system) that would have 99% surveillance of the arctic circle. Every day more and more demanding, every day a real challenge, every day getting us closer to the end result.

They say, the journey is more important that the destination. But this time, it wasn’t. They were both.
When the data constantly kept changing every hour, the significance of concurrent engineering and what concurrent design really means were perceived by the 30 engineers. Then and only then you become a team. When you have a common goal. When the data changes so quickly, when one’s work affects the other one’s input and results altogether, when time is pressing, when the endurance is exhausted, when the goal is approaching, when the answers have to be given immediately, when there is a common effort, a common passion, then yes, you become a team. We were. The goal was reached, the challenge is over, but the team still remains.

This challenge truly became an extremely useful, interesting and constructive experience. An amazing event for future space engineers.”