The 20th CVA Summer School on space transportation systems took place on 1-25 July 2019 at the Sapienza University of Rome’s School of Aerospace Engineering with the support of the City of Colleferro and its industrial partner Avio.
The Summer School is the flagship of the CVA’s educational programmes and is designed for science and engineering students who have completed at least three years in higher education and young professionals from the aeronautical and space industry. In addition to lectures and teamwork on reusable launchers, this year’s 33 students from five different European countries had the opportunity to tour several research institutes and large space firms and visit the historic centre of Rome as well as take part in microrocket workshops, team-building, and improvisational theatre, etc. Alumni of previous years joined the students for a weekend in mid-July, in which they visited the Italian Aerospace Research Centre (CIRA) and Ostia Antica archeological site, and went for a dip in the sea.
The CVA wishes to thank the municipality of Colleferro, the Sapienza University of Rome, Avio, ASI, all the speakers and the Summer School programme committee (including representatives of ESA, CNES, ArianeGroup and the Technical University of Bremen) for making this 20th Summer School a success.
The students came from various CVA Member Cities, notably Augsburg, Bordeaux, Bremen, Rome (Colleferro), Seville and Toulouse, and Euroavia. Lecturers, hosts and speakers alike praised their team spirit, ability to network and enthusiasm for space and space transportation systems. This training, providing an ideal forum for young engineers, is bound to be fruitful and immensely constructive for European launchers.