The ESA / ESTEC Concurrent Design Facility

The (ESA) performs pre-Phase-A assessment studies as part of the definition of future space missions. To evaluate the benefits of the Concurrent Engineering (CE) approach to these studies an experimental design facility was created in the ESA Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) at the end of 1998 and used to perform the assessment of several missions. This article describes the adopted approach, the experience gained during the studies performed and highlights the benefits of the application of the concurrent engineering approach to space mission assessment and design.