The Masters of Space
by Garima Pandey
February 22, 2016

Space Studies


As a first in this venture of ours to help prospective space students make the best decisions about their future in the space industry, we bring to you European master’s courses, offered under European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme, that we’re sure will not only satisfy your thirst for space-tech knowledge, but also take you places, both literally and figuratively.  


We begin with Erasmus+ Joint European Master in Space Science and Technology, or more conveniently (and definitely cooler), SpaceMaster. A two-year dual degree course, SpaceMaster is offered jointly by a consortium of six universities. You begin the first semester in the lush vineyards of Franconia, at the Julius-Maximillian Universität Würzburg (JMUW). With courses on various spacecraft sub-systems, control theory, and the opportunity to develop your own CanSat prototype, you get an overview of what satellite technology is all about, and how it is that we have been sending machines into orbit, keeping them alive, and having meaningful (yes, very deep) conversations with them for over half a century now.

 

The City of Wuerzburg

The city of Würzburg [1]


Enter second semester, in the middle of winter, you head north into the arctic. At Luleå University of technology (LTU), Kiruna, in the wintry nights under the misty aura of the Aurora, you learn about the physics behind this gorgeous phenomenon, among many others. You also have in-depth courses about the electronics, optics and all kinds of signal processing necessary to have the two-way communication with satellites we talked about earlier.


The Space Campus, Kiruna

The Space Campus, Kiruna [2]

 

One year and sixty credits after you begin the course, you get to choose further “tracks”, depending on your interests. Two science tracks, offered both at LTU and at University Paul Sabatier Toulouse III (UPS), delve deeper into space physics, with courses on plasma, planetary geology and atmospheric sciences. The 6 engineering tracks vary widely. At Cranfield University you study satellite structural dynamics and control. At Aalto University, Czech Technical University and JMUW, the courses focus on automation and space robotics while at UPS and LTU, it is specific space instruments and their functioning that you learn about. To sum it all up and finish your degree with a flourish, you choose your master’s thesis topic, and destination, which could be a company, a university or even a research institute. Two third-country universities which offer thesis positions as a part of this programme are Utah State University, and the University of Tokyo.


If all of this does not fit your bill, and space physics is more your cup of tea, there’s another programme called Astromundus, an Erasmus Mumdus Master’s course in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Not unlike SpaceMaster, the programme is a 2-year, 4-semester course beginning with all students at one university-- in this case, University of Innsbruck, and ending with a master’s thesis at either of the consortium universities.


The city of Innsbruck

The city of Innsbruck [3]

 

The students will have courses on galactic astrophysics, planetology, cosmology and the likes. The mobility path in this course, however, can be chosen right from the second semester. The partner universities are Universität Göttingen, University of Padova, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, and University of Belgrade (partner third-country university). So if you fancy travelling through the lap of the Austrian Alps to the ancient ruins of Rome, while studying about solar flares and galactic evolution, this course might be “the one” for you.


Both of these courses are funded by the European Commission, and a fixed number of scholarships are available for both EU and non-EU students. For students awarded the scholarships, the tuition fee is wavered. The programmes aim at combining the expertise of different countries in a field as advanced as space technology. The students have the opportunity to adjust in vastly different cultures and integrate themselves with the environment around to get the maximum out of the experience, for their career, as well as personal growth.


We hope this small introduction to a wide variety of courses available to space students will be of help to our readers. Suggestions to cover specific programs are welcome. Get in touch with us, at radar@spaceboard.eu, to let us know what you would like to know about.





[1] http://www.uniquetravels.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Wuerzburg1.jpg
[2] http://d20tdhwx2i89n1.cloudfront.net/image/upload/t_next_gen_article_large_767/pfsd3v5qew9ybb0yrw2t.jpg
[3] http://foto.images-tiscover.com/fotos/0/3/1024/576/80/FFFFFF/http%3A%2F%2Ffoto-origin.images-tiscover.com%2Fat%2Fimages%2FRGN%2F497%2FRGN497at%2Finnsbruck-tirol-202mo.jpg/3VxQ6sbhcgJaIWeo62je8A%3D%3D/z/7/innsbruck-tirol-202mo.jpg

Cover Image: http://powerfulstorms.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/aurora-71.jpg

Suggested articles
These articles may also interest you:

Building Communities with the International Space Apps Challenge

The Space Apps Challenge, now a global event is a lesson in mass collaboration. What can we do to help nurture our own local space community? A few thoughts.

The Unexpected Gifts of Space

Since times immemorial, there has been a huge hue and cry over the ostensibly large sums of money we spend on research and development in space technology with no apparent benefits to mankind. This, however, can’t be further away from the truth. We have seen, in the past five decades, that not only has the space industry itself grown in leaps and bounds, but it has also led to advancements in the vastly different fields of science that are associated with it.

NewSpace - Is this the Advent of the Second Space Age?

Over the past few years, it has been becoming more and more difficult to not notice a promising upsurge in activities in the commercial space industry. The developments in the space sector seem to be experiencing a fundamental shift from heavy dependence on government agencies towards a more independent private sector with quite a few dominant players. Case in point, Elon Musk and the ground-breaking technologies developed by SpaceX or Richard Branson and the space tourism efforts of Virgin Galactic, are the front-runners of what is already being touted as the "Second Space Age". These names, among other developments in the commercial sector of the space industry, fit under the umbrella term of "NewSpace."

New Community Features

We're excited to announce new community features on SpaceBoard: Relays, comments and starring!

Would you like to receive notifications of upcoming Radar articles? Subscribe now and stay up to date with the latest SpaceBoard publications.



emailSign up

If you're interested in becoming a Radar writer, get in touch at radar@spaceboard.eu.

SpaceBoard is on a mission to reinvent the way individuals and organisations from the space industry interact. Find out more.