Abstract:

This contribution describes a project-based learning activity implemented in a fourth-year satellite design course. In this activity, student teams are tasked with designing a complete subsystem for a specific satellite mission and later presenting their results in a structured poster session to peers and engineering school. The activity is positioned in the final year of the Aerospace Engineering degree to help bridge the gap between discipline‑specific courses and the integrative challenges of real space missions.

Throughout the course, brief design reviews and targeted guidance help students apply methods previously learned in a coherent way. Teams must justify key design choices, perform sizing calculations, address interfaces with other subsystems, and identify major risks and mitigation strategies. The project culminates in a poster session in which each group presents its subsystem to classmates and instructors in a conference-style format. For many students, this is their first experience producing and defending a technical poster, as they are more familiar with traditional slide-based presentations. Consequently, the activity includes explicit support on poster structure, visual communication, and concise messaging, emphasizing skills that are directly transferable to scientific conferences and professional environments.

The poster session is structured to promote peer-to-peer questioning, cross-team comparisons, and feedback from instructors, highlighting clarity of technical communication and the ability to argue design decisions in front of an expert audience. To evaluate the impact of the activity, post-activity questionnaires gather data on students’ perceptions of their confidence in subsystem design, their familiarity with poster presentations, and their sense of preparedness for professional engineering communication. Additional qualitative feedback is collected during debriefing discussions. Preliminary results indicate increased motivation and an improved ability to connect theoretical knowledge with the practical demands of satellite system engineering.

Keywords:

Project‑based learning, Satellite subsystem design, Aerospace engineering education, Systems engineering.