The following opportunities are coming up this year for conducting microgravity research in space stations or even developing and launching CubeSats.
(1) Fellowship Programme on the Large Diameter Centrifuge Hypergravity Experiment Series (HyperGES)
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), is pleased to announce the “United Nations / European Space Agency Fellowship Programme on the Large Diameter Centrifuge Hypergravity Experiment Series (HyperGES)” as part of the UNOOSA’s “Access to Space for All” Initiative and in cooperation with ESA and the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC). The fellowship programme is aimed at providing opportunities for scientists and researchers with a team of students from Member States of the United Nations with particular attention to developing countries to conduct their own hypergravity experiment series at the LDC facility located at ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
The HyperGES fellowship programme is contributing to the promotion of space education and research in hypergravity around the world, particularly for the enhancement of relevant capacity-building activities in developing countries.
ELIGIBILITYÂ
The HyperGES fellowship programme is open to research teams from entities that are located in Member States of the United Nations with particular attention to developing countries. Each team should consist of one academic supervisor (Team Leader – Prof./PhD, not a student), and several Bachelor, Master and/or PhD students.
It is further required that the proposed experiment be an integral part of the students’ syllabuses, that is, part of a Bachelor thesis, a Master thesis, a PhD thesis, or another form of research project associated with the applicants’ studies at their respective universities.
The final number of team members who will participate in the experiment on site at the LDC facility depends strictly on the requirements of the experiment and is subject to approval by the Selection Board of the HyperGES Fellowship Programme. The Board reserves the right to change or limit the team size if considered necessary.
Changes to the composition of the team are NOT allowed once the application has been submitted. If, for exceptional reasons, changes are absolutely necessary, they will be subject to the approval of the Selection Board. Priority will be given to teams that have not previously participated in an experiment at the LDC facility and/or research projects that have never been conducted at the LDC facility.
The applying academic supervisors (Team Leader) will supervise the work of the students. This person must belong to the same entity as at least one of the students and will be expected to endorse the entire application (including the experiment proposal and team composition) by signing the application form, take care of development process of the team, and bear responsibility for the execution of the experiment.
In addition to the endorsement of the application form by the Team Leader, each Team Member (Team Leader and each student) must be able to show that they have their respective institutions’ support through a Letter of Endorsement from their respective institutions. When seeking the Letter of Endorsement, the complete application forms should be presented to their institutions. Team Members belonging to same institution may provide one Letter of Endorsement from that institution.
Deadline 31 January 2020
For further information, contact: aimin.niu@un.org
(2) Fellowship Programme for “Drop Tower Experiment Series” (DropTES)
The Drop Tower Experiment Series is a fellowship programme of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in which students can learn and study microgravity science by performing experiments in a drop tower. The Bremen Drop Tower in Germany is a ground-based laboratory with a drop tube of a height of 146 meters, which can enable short microgravity experiments to be performed in various scientific fields, such as fluid physics, combustion, thermodynamics, material science and biotechnology.
In collaboration with the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the fellowship programme offers a selected research team the opportunity to conduct its own microgravity experiments at the Bremen Drop Tower. The series of experiments will consist of four drops or catapult launches during which approximately 5 or 10 seconds of microgravity, respectively, are produced.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
- The DropTES Fellowship Programme is open to research teams from entities that are Member States of the United Nations. Teams should consist of up to four Bachelor, Master and/or PhD students who must be endorsed by an academic supervisor.
- It is further required that the proposed experiment be an integral part of the students’ syllabuses, that is, part of a Bachelor thesis, a Master thesis, a PhD thesis, or another form of research project associated with the applicants’ studies at the respective university.
Deadline for applications submission is  31  January 2020 at 23:59 CET
For further information, contact: jorge.delriovera@un.org
(3) Accessing Space with the ISS Bartolomeo Platform
The deadline for applications is by 30 April 2020 at 23:59 CET (Update made on 20 November 2019: Please note that the deadline for applications is now 30 April 2020).
Webinar
Please note that a webinar took place on Monday 25 November. Material: UNOOSA’s presentation, Airbus’ Presentation
The next webinar will take place on 30 January 2020, there will be two slots from 9:00-12:00 CET and from 16:00-19:00 CET. Take the opportunity to ask any questions regarding your application! ( NO REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED )
Join the webinar from 9:00-12:00 CET
Join the webinar from 16:00-19:00 CET
Contact: jorge.delriovera@un.org for further information and inquiry
(4) Accessing Space with VEGA-C
- Cubesat launch opportunity
Research teams must:
- Be from entities in UN Member States
- Transport the payload to Guyana Space Centre or Brno (Czech Republic).
(5) Applications expected to open in the period Jan-March 2020
Contact: jorge.delriovera@un.org
(6) Cooperation on the Utilization of the China Space Station (CSS)
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), in cooperation with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), is pleased to launch the “United Nations/China Cooperation on the Utilization of the China Space Station” programme under the framework of the UNOOSA’s Human Space Technology Initiative (HSTI). Through this programme, UNOOSA intends to capitalize on the technological and innovative skills of the Government of China to benefit Member States of the United Nations, in particular developing countries, thereby contributing to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through increasing access to space.
The programme is jointly implemented by UNOOSA and CMSA. It provides scientists from around the world with an opportunity to conduct their own experiments on board China’s Space Station (CSS). It is an innovative and future-focused programme to open up space exploration activities to all nations and to create a new paradigm in building capabilities in space science and technology.
The Announcement of Opportunity (AO) is the invitation for scientific experiments on-board the CSS under the programme. The Handbook provides detailed technical information on the CSS and its resources for international cooperation. Applicants need to provide their proposal for space experiments and information on their team in the Application Form, which will be the mainstay for the preliminary selection.
INFORMATION
PRESS RELEASE
United Nations and China invite applications to conduct experiments on-board China’s Space Station (28 May 2018)
United Nations and China agree to increased space cooperation (16 June 2016)
Application opens in spring or summer 2020. For further information regarding the United Nations/China cooperation, please contact Mr. Aimin Niu at UNOOSA at aimin.niu@un.org.
(7) Telescope provision by the International Scientific Optical Network*
Telescope provision
Research teams must:
- Provide a hosting facility and personnel to operate the telescope
- Be from entities in Developing Countries
Applications expected to open in in spring or summer 2020*
For further information, contact: jorge.delriovera@un.org
(8) CubeSat Deployment from the ISS Japanese Experiment Module (Kibo)
“KiboCUBE”
CubeSat development and deployment from educational or research institutions from developing countries to raise awareness of the role space plays in promoting sustainable development and capacity building.
Research teams must be from entities:
- In UN Member States
- In countries that do not have the means to transport artificial satellites into space and place them in orbit
Application opens in spring 2020
For further information, contact: jorge.delriovera@un.org
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