On Monday, 22 September 2025, the very first international Satellite Design Workshop (SDW), hosted by the Collaborative Research Centre 1667 ATLAS, has concluded successfully at the University of Stuttgart.
Over an intense seven days, 38 university students and young professionals from 15 countries conducted two parallel design studies conceptualize a Very Low Earth Orbit satellite mission in two competing teams. The mission statement that Team Blue and Team Green were given was "Conceptualize an Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) technology demonstrator!"
Guidance and expert advice was provided by a dedicated team of researchers from the ATLAS team, complemented by partnering representatives from academia and industry.
After a strenuous but rewarding week of teambuilding, focused concurrent engineering work and chasing various submission deadlines for intermittent design reviews before a panel of experts and "customers", both teams presented their impressive results before a large audience on 22 September.
At the concluding dinner event in the Höhencafé Killesberg, located in the picturesque Killesberg park in Stuttgart, one of the two excellent satellite mission concepts was announced as winner of the the design contest. Team Green's DragON was awarded first place by a narrow margin over Team Blue's AERIS (Air-breathing Electric Propulsion for Research in the Ionosphere and Thermosphere Satellite) VLEO satellite mission concept.
The ATLAS team would like to thank all participants and experts for making this a very memorable and successful first-ever Satellite Design Workshop!
Learn more about the DragON and AERIS Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) VLEO satellite demonstrator missions below!
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