New specialization: Decarbonizing aeronautics

15 January 2024 School

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The aeronautical sector is facing major challenges, involving the progressive deployment of numerous innovations and impacting on the skills expected of future engineers. Against this backdrop, ESTACA, a post-baccalaureate engineering school specializing in transport and sustainable mobility, is launching a new "Innovation and Decarbonation of the Aeronautical Sector" specialization for its 5th year students on its Bordeaux campus.

Objective: to train engineers ready to contribute to the deployment of concrete, innovative solutions to achieve carbon neutrality and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

"The aeronautics industry, a true technological flagship, is a major focus for ESTACA students. With its economic dynamism, technological challenges and potential for continuous innovation, this sector offers fertile ground for developing exciting professional projects. From the start of the 2024 academic year, 30 students will be able to join this new specialization, in line with our strategic plan and the recent opening of our new IDEAL department for sustainable and responsible engineers."

Philippe Guibert,

ESTACA's Director of Training

A course to prepare engineers for the decarbonization of the aeronautical sector

The new "Innovation and Decarbonization of the Aeronautical Sector" specialization will enable :

Accompany the profound transformation of society and develop industrial competitiveness in the technologies of the future, making it possible to achieve carbon neutrality in air transport by 2050;
Prepare future engineers to enter the aeronautics field quickly and efficiently;
Gain a better understanding of the industrial challenges involved in achieving the decarbonization of air transport.

"The educational objectives of this new specialization are ambitious. Future engineers need to acquire a global vision by developing their know-how and expertise on the issues and impacts of new carbon-free energies. Our aim is to develop their ability to analyze advanced technical subjects in order to propose and implement optimized energy solutions, while fostering their critical thinking and problem-solving skills for complex systems."

Noureddine Guerrassi,

Lecturer and researcher in charge of the program's pedagogical implementation

A final-year specialization combining theory and practice

In addition to the 6 final-year specializations already offered to students in the aeronautics stream, this new program is designed for students interested in new technologies and modeling.

It will offer theoretical teaching units based on 7 modules:

Sustainable and low-carbon fuels
Combustion
Lightening and materials
Aircraft, turbomachinery and environmental impact
Propulsion system efficiency
Eco-design and circular economy
Human sciences and business.

In addition to theoretical instruction, this course will be coupled with an industrial project, such as the development of low-carbon aircraft, the design of hybrid electric aircraft, the study of electric systems that generate electricity instead of or in addition to turbine engine thrust...

The 24-week end-of-study internship will complete this practical part of the decarbonization skills acquisition.

During their training, students will work on projects aimed at achieving carbon neutrality as part of the deployment of decarbonized mobility solutions, using different levers: replacing fossil fuel with a carbon-neutral energy source, improving aircraft fuel efficiency and integrating cross-sectoral knowledge for decarbonization on a global scale.

"For this new specialization, the ESTACA Bordeaux campus was ideal, particularly because of its geographical location in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, which boasts a very large number of companies in the aerospace sector. It will enable us to strengthen our already strong links with companies in the region".

Marc Weber,

Head of Training at ESTACA Bordeaux