Design to Produce
Digital technologies have radically changed businesses, industries and societies. Digital engineering is currently enabling a revolution of the way spacecraft are designed, developed, tested and operated.
Through the design to produce initiative, ESA develops techniques to improve the space system end-to-end development process, ultimately reducing engineering lead time and cost.
At the heart of the initiative is the challenge to design space systems that support manufacturability, integration and verification, and a need to feed lessons learnt from the manufacturing, assembly, integration and testing process back into the design process. This requires a multidisciplinary approach, in-depth expertise and experience across all phases of a space system’s life-cycle that can be directly implemented through the Concurrent Design Facility.
Why it is needed
To allow the shift from lengthy document-centric traditional processes to a model-centric analysis and build process more suitable to the new space environment.
Using models and high-fidelity virtual environments to prototype, experiment and test options and concepts, means integrating new technologies with a faster pace.
Design-to-Produce is especially important for the development of space systems intended to be fully integrated into modern economies, to serve new customers and connected with diverse ground networks and smart devices.
how it works
ESA is supporting space industry by setting up partnerships and pilot projects with specialised non-space actors for a rapid adoption of smart space factories methods . The initiative will substantially benefit from the leading expertise of European SMEs in related technologies such as embedded sensors, virtual, augmented and enriched reality, smart glasses and integrated scanners.
The initiative follows the following key-lines of actions:
The initiative follows the following key-lines of actions:
1
Digital engineering
Adopting digital model and digital engineering for end-to-end development across the entire supply chain
2
Embedded sensors
Continuous improvement of design and product based on analysis of data from embedded sensors, both on-ground and aboard, plus streamlined assembly, integration and testing
3
Latest generation techniques for the shop floor
Application of augmented reality and automation techniques and methods supporting execution of assembly, integration and testing, to prevent anomalies and failures and reduce inefficiencies.
