ESA CubeSat Summer School

Daniel Vrankar took part in the ESA CubeSat Summer School at the European Space Agency's premises in the ESEC-Galaxia facilities in Belgium from August 19 to 31. The programme focused on small satellites, so called "CubeSats". Participants were provided with a comprehensive understanding of satellite missions and the commercialization of space technologies. At the end of the Summer School, the participants presented their business models for a CubeSat mission to a jury. The participants had previously received support from numerous high-profile guests from industry and ESA to make their projects a success.

This year, for the first time, Business Administration students were also explicitly invited to work together with the numerous engineering students. ESA is thus underlining the importance of the commercialization of space in the so-called New Space Industry.

Mr. Vrankar worked for two weeks on the "Cosmic Crops" project, which aims to monitor farms throughout Africa with the help of satellite data in order to increase yields. As part of the great interdisciplinary team, Vrankar was responsible for the financing strategy, pricing and long-term financial planning.

If you would like to learn more about current economic developments in space, we invite you to register for our Space Economics module next year. Further information on the Summer School can be found here.