The deadline for abstract submission is Friday 5 May 2012.

Anyone who is interested should click here for full details.

Good luck!

Chris Brunskill attended the 2011 Space Studies Programme in Austria.  He said “During the programme I had the chance to take lectures provided by leading experts in the many disciplines that make up the modern space industry.  I was able to get hands on experience with technical equipment and participate in the planning of a live mission.  I was also able to work with a fantastic, proactive and intelligent group of fellow participants from around the world.  I hope future beneficiaries of the UK Space Agency funding programme will gain as much as I have from this experience.”

The successful candidates will be chosen by a panel consisting of representatives from the UK Space Agency and Space Education Trust, with consultation from ISU. Students will be expected to show evidence of some external support including sourcing €1000 towards their study themselves.  The deadline for applying for funding for the Space Studies Programme is 31st January 2012; the deadline for the Masters programme is 15th March (deadlines for non-funded places are later). Application is through the ISU website.

Source: UK Space Agency

Simply come up with an excellent idea for a branch project, create a project outline and submit it to the UKSEDS Committee. We will then select the best idea(s) and present your branch with up to £500 to be put towards the cost of making your project a reality.

Competition Timetable

19 November                             Competition Announced

31 December                             Closing Date for Entries

February                                     Winner Announced

Project Outline
There is no required format for this, but it should include the following.

• A description of the project including how you intend to carry it out (demonstrating that it is technically feasible).
• A list of equipment required and a reasonable estimate of the cost, as well as detailing other potential or existing sources of funding.
• If additional help is required (e.g. access to facilities, licence etc) details of how this will be obtained.
• An outline of how you will share your project with the wider community (This could be talking to or involving local schools/scouts etc., blog/website/Twitter, talking on local radio…use your imagination).
• How you could potentially cooperate with other branches and their members, and the benefit the project brings to UKSEDS nationally
• A list of any potential risks if any e.g. safety issues, not getting required licence etc.
• Contact details – including a main and secondary contact with an email address and phone number for each.

As a rough guide we would not expect the Outline to be more than 3 sides of A4.

Outlines should be submitted electronically to competition@ukseds.org

This facility is one of the most sophisticated and high-quality research centres of its kind in Europe and boasts a 146 m high tower that provides experiments with up to 9.3 s of microgravity.

The deadline to submit the experiment proposals is 13 February 2012.  The selected team will perform its experiment during ESA’s fourth Drop your Thesis! campaign, to be held during the Autumn of 2012.

All the information for this programme can be found at http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Education/SEMFNY6UXSG_0.html.  For any further information, please do no hesitate to contact us through the e-mail dropyourthesis@esa.int.

(Sources: Dr Javier Ventura-Traveset, ESA, via email; ESA Education News)

Well check out this competition being run by Youtube in collabertaion with a few of our favourite space agencies…

…check out http://www.youtube.com/spacelab for more information.

‘Drop Your Thesis!’ invites a team of students to design a scientific or technology experiment to be performed in microgravity as part of their syllabus. The deadline to submit the experiment proposals is 21 February 2011.
A review board will select the team to develop and perform their experiment during ESA’s third ‘Drop Your Thesis!’ Campaign in autumn 2011. The campaign will last for three weeks, the first two of which will be dedicated to integration and ground testing of the experiment in an attempt to reduce the probability of experiment failure. In the third week, the selected team will be allocated five drop opportunities for its experiment.

During the ‘Drop Your Thesis!’ project, the teams will be supported by ESA’s Education Office, ZARM engineers and members of the European Low Gravity Research Association (ELGRA). ESA will offer financial support to cover part of the cost of the experiments, travel and accommodation.
Teams from ESA Member States and Cooperating States are encouraged to register on the ESA Education Office’s project portal and upload their proposal.

So we thought you might give us a little help in the promotion of this programme, since I guess you still have loads of contacts and friends busy at studying. Would you mind spreading the word and let potentially interested students/professors know about it?

All the information can be found on the website of ESA Education: www.esa.int/education together with information about many other projects and opportunities organised by ESA Education Office. For any further information, please do no hesitate to contact us through the e-mail address below.

Contact:
Dr Javier Ventura-Traveset
Head of ESAC Communication and Education Office
dropyourthesis@esa.int

More details on the UK Space Agency website: http://www.ukspaceagency.bis.gov.uk/About-BNSC/Space-for-All/12167.aspx

The Astronauts of Expedition 26/27

ESA’s Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli will soon visit the International Space Station, and he needs your help to name his mission.

Paolo Nespoli will be launched in a Soyuz TMA spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 30 November with Dmitri Kondratyev and Catherine Coleman (pictured right). After docking two days later, they will stay on the International Space Station (ISS) as members of Expeditions 26/27.

Paolo’s previous mission was called Esperia from the Ancient Greek name for the Italian peninsula. Following the enthusiastic response to earlier competitions, ESA is again inviting European citizens to suggest names for his new mission.

The competition is open to all citizens and residents of ESA’s Member States. The winning name will become the official name of Nespoli’s mission and the winner will receive a frame with the mission logo signed by European astronauts.

Submissions need to be in by 30 June, so you don’t have much time!

For more information about the competition check out the ESA website here.

SGAC and its Near Earth Object Working Group are happy to announce the third annual Move an Asteroid technical paper competition!

While previous years’ competitions asked contestants how to move an asteroid, this edition of the competition challenges students and young professionals worldwide to come up with ideas for a global asteroid impact early warning system.

The winner will receive a fully paid trip to Prague, Czech Republic to present the findings at the Space Generation Congress and the International Astronautical Congress.  Flights, hotel, and conference registration will be covered.

Submissions are due 30 July, 2010 so don’t delay!

Fly Your Thesis

The European Space Agency is proud to announce the third edition of “Fly your Thesis! – An Astronaut Experience”. Through this exciting programme, several teams of university students throughout Europe will be given the opportunity to fly their experiments in microgravity by participating in a series of parabolic flights on the Airbus A300 Zero-G aircraft.

“Fly Your Thesis!” requires each team of students to design a scientific experiment to be performed in microgravity, as part of their Masters/PhD thesis or research programme. In order to apply for the programme, teams should submit their outline proposals using a Letter of Intent template to be found on the website, by the deadline of 12 July 2010.

A Review Board will then select up to 20 teams, who will be invited to elaborate a detailed scientific proposal, with the support of a scientific mentor. As a conclusion to this phase, the teams will present their projects to a review board during a dedicated workshop to be held at an ESA Centre.

After this initial workshop, up to four teams will be selected to further develop and perform their experiment on an ESA Microgravity Research Campaign that will take place in Bordeaux, France, during the spring of 2012. There, the student teams will work in close contact with renowned European scientists carrying out their own research. During the Campaign, the students will accompany their experiments on board for three flights of 30 parabolas, experiencing about 20 seconds of microgravity during each parabola.

During the development of the “Fly your Thesis!” experiments, the participating teams will be supported by ESA’s Education Office, ESA microgravity experts and members of the European Low Gravity Research Association (ELGRA). ESA will offer financial support to cover part of the cost of the experiments, necessary travel and accommodation.

Teams from ESA Member States and Cooperating States are encouraged to register on the ESA Education Office’s project portal and upload their proposals for this programme.

All the information can be found on the website of ESA Education:
www.esa.int/education together with information about many other projects and opportunities organised by ESA Education Office.

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