ISQ Group hosts ESA round table
On the 26th and 27th May, with the support of the Centre for Pollution Prevention (C3P), ISQ organised an ESA – European Space Agency round table, on the theme “Sustainable Development in the Space Sector Special Focus on the Southern Region”, which took place on the ISQ campus. The event included a session on Sustainable Development, another dedicated to environmental issues and a visit to the company UAVISION. A group of national and European companies participated in the round table, such as Airbus, Arianespace, EFACEC, Critical Materials, Evoleo, entities such as the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (Foundation for Science and Technology), Instituto Pedro Nunes (Pedro Nunes Institute) and several universities. In 2012 the Coordination Office on Sustainable Development of the European Space Agency (ESA) began a series of international round tables covering various issues relating to “sustainable development” (SD). These initiatives, focused on best practices and cooperation potential, seek to build a platform between actors with a vast experience and SD policies in the topics being discussed and to share these practices, concerns and solutions. The concept underlying the round tables is that each debate should be about one of the pillars of sustainable development: environment, social and economic, as well as general governance-related matters. The objective is to assess how SD principles can be integrated both in the space sector and the public and business sectors. In 2014 the ESA decided to continue this initiative and broaden perspectives by increasing regional involvement. To that end, it decided to broaden the geographical horizon of these events to the Agency’s Member States, dividing them into three zones: North, South and East. It is in this context that the ESA decided that one of its round tables would be held in Lisbon. ISQ has been a member of the GIE ESQS (Industrial Grouping of European Companies) since 2003, which is formed, among others by ISQ, APAVE, TÜV SUD, GTD, INSA and created the company ISQ-Kourou, focused on the space market, to provide management operations, technical inspections, risk assessments and assessment/review of procedures for the Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega launch systems, at the European Space Agency in French Guyana. ISQ’s important laboratory capacity, which boasts a network of accredited laboratories, allows us to develop and conduct specific testing for this market, in particular materials and coatings testing, mechanical testing, conventional and advanced testing and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and customised non-conventional thermodynamic testing, for entities such as Thales Alenia Space, Airbus-Astrium, Safran-Herakles, Embraer, ESA/ESTEC, among others. In the last ten years, ISQ has invested over 55M€ in national and European projects in R&D in several fields, including aerospace and aeronautics and has participated in a various projects in partnership with organisations such as EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company), Rolls-Royce, MTU, Nasa and Agusta Westlande Airbus.
