Ground Segment Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

The present report details the eco-design study performed as the culminating stage of the project “Ground Segment LCA”, commissioned by the European Space Agency and developed by a Consortium of experts formed by RINA, CT Ingénierie and Deimos Elecnor. The content hereby included was the subject of the author´s end-of-Master internship at CT Ingénierie, which extended from April to August 2019. The study comprises an in-depth analysis of the environmental impacts calculated from a Life Cycle Assessment performed on the space industry Ground Segment, followed by the identification of a set of most promising eco-design implementations to reduce said impacts. The bulk of this work is presented in Chapters IV and V. In Chapter I, the context of the thesis is presented. Chapter II introduces the project and defines the necessary concepts to fully comprehend the study, as well as the structure and aims of the work performed. Chapter III details the previous developments in the project, which serve as the starting point for the work presented in this report. Chapter VI summarizes the conclusions of the study and presents the closing comments of the report.