3rd Electric Propulsion Summer School (6-8 October 2026)

6 Oct 2026, 09:00 → 8 Oct 2026, 17:00 Europe/Amsterdam

Tennis Hall (ESTEC)

Eduard Bosch Borras (ESA), Kaethe Dannenmayer (ESA), Stéphane Mazouffre (CNRS ICARE laboratory), Thomas Trottenberg

We are pleased to invite you all to join the 3rd European Summer School on Electric Propulsion for Spacecraft.

The 3rd EP Summer School will take place in the ESA-ESTEC premises in Noordwijk (The Netherlands) from the 6th to the 8th October 2026.

The 3-day Summer School will propose a series of lectures about EP and its application given by experts in the field. The program will cover fundamental aspects, various technologies, numerical simulations, diagnostics and examples of missions using EP (detailed program and speakers available here).

The Summer School will be a unique opportunity for young Bachelor, Master and PhD students but also researchers and engineers to learn, meet peers, discuss advances and perspectives as well as to visit the ESA Propulsion Laboratory and other ESA facilities.

The Summer School is open to participants from ESA Member States, Associate Member States and Cooperating States: https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Corporate_news/Member_States_Cooperating_States

Registration will open on 11/05/2026 and will be limited to 80 participants, first come, first served. 

The registration fee for the Summer School is 300 € (excl. VAT). The fee includes lectures, lunches, coffee breaks and a two social events.

For this edition there will be 3 scholarships available thanks to ESA Academy. 

We look forward to see many of you at this great event!

Stéphane Mazouffre, Thomas Trottenberg, Kaethe Dannenmayer & Eduard Bosch Borràs
Organizers of the 3rd Electric Propulsion Summer School 2026

 

The event is possible thanks to the contributions of our sponsors:

 

 

 

EPSS2025_ABEP_Bosch Borras.pdf

EPSS2025_AF-MPD_Herdrich.pdf

EPSS2025_Development and Qualification_Dannenmayer.pdf

EPSS2025_Diagnostics_Trottenberg.pdf

EPSS2025_Electrosprays FEEP_Krejci.pdf

EPSS2025_EP in Europe_Di Cara.pdf

EPSS2025_EP on telcom spacecraft_Coletti.pdf

EPSS2025_Fluid modeling_Ahedo.pdf

EPSS2025_Fundamentals EP_Mazouffre.pdf

EPSS2025_Hall Thruster_Garrigues.pdf

EPSS2025_Laser diagnostics_Mazouffre.pdf

EPSS2025_PIC Simulations_Garrigues.pdf

EPSS2025_SF-MPD_Herdrich.pdf

EPSS2025_Testing and Facilities_Dannenmayer.pdf

GIE 2025 Summer School.pptx

Tuesday 6 October

09:00 → 09:15 Welcome and Introduction to EP Summer School 2026

Speaker: Jamila Mansouri (ESA)

09:15 → 10:45 Fundamentals of Electric Propulsion and Plasma Physics

Speaker: Stéphane Mazouffre (CNRS)

10:45 → 11:15 Coffee break

11:15 → 12:15 Hall-Effect Thrusters

Speaker: Laurent Garrigues (Université de Toulouse - Laplace)

12:15 → 13:15 Lunch break

13:15 → 14:15 Gridded Ion Thruster

Speaker: Cheryl Collyngwood (ESA)

14:15 → 15:15 FEEP and Electrospray Thrusters

Speaker: David Krejci (ENPULSION)

15:15 → 15:45 Coffee Break

15:45 → 16:45 Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion

Speaker: Eduard Bosch Borras

16:45 → 18:45 Networking event - Cocktail at ESTEC

Wednesday 7 October

09:00 → 10:00 Electric Propulsion Testing and Facilities

Convener: Kaethe Dannenmayer (ESA)

10:00 → 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 → 12:30 Electric Propulsion Diagnostics Systems - probes and analysis

Convener: Prof. Thomas Trottenberg (University of Kiel)

12:30 → 13:30 Lunch Break

13:30 → 15:30 EP Numerical Simulations

Convener: Prof. Eduardo Ahedo (UC3M)

15:30 → 16:00 Coffee Break

16:00 → 17:00 Development and Qualification of Electric Propulsion Systems

Convener: Kaethe Dannenmayer (ESA)

18:30 → 21:30 Dinner Event

Thursday 8 October

09:30 → 10:30 Electric Propulsion for CubeSats

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee break

11:00 → 12:30 Visit to the ESA Propulsion Laboratory

12:30 → 13:30 Lunch break

13:30 → 15:00 Electric Propulsion in Europe

Convener: Davina Di Cara (ESA)

15:00 → 15:30 Coffee Break

15:30 → 16:00 Closing of the event