The European Space Agency (ESA) has opened up invitations to attend its inaugural Workshop on Advanced Manufacturing in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, on 18-19 March.
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European Space Agency extends AM workshop invitation
Advanced Manufacturing is an ESA cross-cutting initiative that has the central aim of identifying emerging manufacturing technologies that open up new industrial possibilities in terms of design freedom, streamlined production stages, and reduced cost, as well as enhanced performance from the final product.
The main technology areas are:
- Materials Processing
- Surface Engineering
- Shaping (including additive manufacturing)
- Joining
- Assembly
So far 31 activities have been initiated with the European Space Industry, as well as a number of parallel activities. In this workshop the latest status of each activity will be presented. Two round table discussions will also be performed on the future direction of advanced manufacturing, which will identify future activities for potential inclusion into ESA’s technology R&D plans.
Areas of interest will include additive/smart manufacturing covering all material types, virtual manufacturing, modelling and performance prediction.
Registration for the workshop is free of charge and available on the EventsAir website.
ESA Head of Technology Programmes and Head of GST Programme Udo Becker will open the activities at Noordwijk’s ESA-ESTEC facility.
Speaking at the GST Programme’s 25th anniversary conference, Becker said: “We are proud to say we don’t just develop technology, but we build and maintain capabilities.”
Alongside ESA’s Andrew Norman and Torben Henriksen, other contributors include TWI Limited, UK; IMEC VZW, Belgium; Euro Composites, Luxembourg; Fraunhofer, Germany; and Thales Alenia Space, France, among many others.