News from our Students, Alumni, and highlights from the SpaceMaster Partners

2023.10.20

The online application for intake in the autumn 2025 has opened on October 15, 2024.

September 12, 2024

LTU Alumni of the Year

SpaceMaster and Australian astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg has been named one of the 2024 LTU Alumni of the year together with Swedish actor Christopher Wagelin. Read more here.

September 2024

Round 20 Arrival

Round 20 SpaceMasters and students from the Master's Program in Spacecraft Design as well as exchange students have arrived in Kiruna.

December 2023

Merry Christmas from SpaceMaster

Holiday Greetings from Prague

This year's Christmas video from the CTU Faculty of Electrical Engineering is based on the equation people + technology = music. https://youtu.be/QGhB6Kg9r9g

Happy New Year from Toulouse

IRAP wishes you all the best for 2024!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Finland

This season, Aalto welcomes you to enjoy free e-books from the university's publications. Wishing you relaxing reading moments!

October 23, 2023

Round 17 Graduation

Round 17 SpaceMasters met in Prague for their Closing Ceremony and Scientific Conference (watch below).

https://youtu.be/WQ5ILNmD5JQ

https://youtu.be/6nYFFUMSKnA

September 2023

Round 19 Arrival

Round 19 SpaceMasters and students from the Master's Program in Spacecraft Design as well as exchange students have arrived in Kiruna, while some will be arriving later.

March 8, 2023

SpaceMaster Selected for ESA Astronaut Training

Round 4 SpaceMaster Katherine Bennell-Pegg has been selected as the first Australian woman to be trained as an astronaut by an international space agency. Currently the Director of Space Technology at the Australian Space Agency, Katherine was one of 25 people to complete the 2022 European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut Group selection process out of an initial pool of 22500 eligible applicants. Read more here.

December 20, 2022

Season's Greetings from Kiruna

November 2, 2022

Round 16 Graduation

Round 16 SpaceMasters met at Cité de l´Espace in Toulouse, France for their Closing Ceremony and Scientific Conference.

October 5, 2022

Round 18 Arrival

All Round 18 SpaceMasters and students from the Master's Program in Spacecraft Design as well as exchange students have now arrived in Kiruna.

September 22, 2022

IAC 2022

Kiruna space students attended the 73rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2022), which took place September 18-22 in Paris, France.

September 2022

Round 18 Arrival

Round 18 SpaceMasters and students from the Master's Program in Spacecraft Design as well as exchange students have arrived in Kiruna, while some students will be arriving later.

May 13, 2022

Bengt Hultqvist Scholarship

The Bengt Hultqvist Scholarship has been awarded to SpaceMaster students Arnau Busom Vidal, Kiira Tiensuu and the chair of the student section Sven Molenkamp for their academic achievements and active promotion of space education in Kiruna, Sweden. The scholarships were awarded jointly by Kiruna Rotary Club President Carina Kauppila and Lena Mjerskog of Rotary International, who participated via Teams. Dr. Victoria Barabash, Head of the Division of Space Technology at Luleå University of Technology in Kiruna also attended the ceremony.

The awarding of the scholarships was followed by fine presentations from each recipient, who all impressed and touched with their efforts and achievements. Each scholarship recipient was awarded SEK 5,000 and a diploma.

March 11, 2022

Jessica Meir Visits LTU

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir visited LTU and met with SpaceMasters and other students to discuss her experiences, including her 205-day visit to the International Space Station in 2019-2020 (more info here). Watch the interview below:

https://youtu.be/6GQMe1WqfdM

December 23, 2021

Season's Greetings from Kiruna

December 15, 2021

Season's Greetings from Prague

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague wishes you a Merry Christmas!

https://youtu.be/wiE7GfN358s

December 11, 2021

Round 14 & 15 Closing Ceremony

SpaceMaster Rounds 14 and 15 celebrated a combined Closing Ceremony at the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. A dinner was held afterwards at Slingerbulten.

December 1, 2021

Orbital Launch Plans Give Kiruna Students a Boost

Plans to develop orbital launch capability at Esrange offers intriguing possibilities for students located just 45 minutes away at Kiruna Space Campus. Prof. René Laufer from LTU explains the unique advantages this could provide for student satellite projects in an interview with SVT.

November 2021

GSO Lunchtime Interviews

Giron Space Organisation is happy to introduce a series of Lunchtime Interview sessions with professionals from the space sector. The sessions will take place December 2021-February 2022 in the GSO Zoom Room. If you are interested in following and participating in the sessions, e-mail: contact@gironspace.org .

September 14, 2021

Indian Ambassador Visits Kiruna

The Ambassador of India Mr. Tanmaya Lal visited the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Luleå University of Technology and EISCAT Scientific Association at Space Campus in Kiruna. The Ambassador also got to meet students from LTU’s space education programs. More info here.

September 7, 2021

British Ambassador Visits Kiruna

The Ambassador of the United Kingdom Judith Gough visited the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Luleå University of Technology and EISCAT Scientific Association at Space Campus in Kiruna. The Ambassador also got to meet students from LTU’s space education programs. More info here.

September 2021

Round 17 Arrival

Round 17 SpaceMasters and students from the Master's Program in Spacecraft Design as well as exchange students have arrived in Kiruna. Due to the Covid-19 situation some students will arrive later in September.

May 2021

Swedish Institute Global Swede Award 2021

Round 15 SpaceMaster Diane Delley has been awarded the 2021 Global Swede Award from the Swedish Institute. The award recognizes her excellent study results and work as a manager for the REXUS project ASTER (Attitude STabilised free falling ExpeRiment). See more information on the LTU site and from Diane's presentation video.

January 2021

Brexit Information

Information regarding application and tuition fee requirements for British citizens and their families is available here.

December 21, 2020

Season's Greetings from Kiruna

December 4, 2020

Royal Aeronautical Society Herbert Le Sueur Award

Round 7 SpaceMaster Dr. Mushfiqul Alam, senior Research Associate at the University of Liverpool School of Engineering, has been awarded the 2020 Royal Aeronautical Society Herbert Le Sueur Award in recognition of his research into novel systems to increase safety during helicopter autorotation. More information is available here.

September 2020

Round 16 Arrival

Round 16 SpaceMasters and students from the Master's Program in Spacecraft Design have arrived in Kiruna. Due to the Covid-19 situation some students will arrive later in September.

July 2020

Kiruna Campus Video

Join SpaceMaster Leonie Sander on a video tour of the LTU Kiruna Campus.

https://youtu.be/_KEwd8eY-XA

March 2020

ASTER Selected for REXUS 30 Launch

Project ASTER (Attitude STabilized free falling ExpeRiment) was selected in December 2019 for the REXUS 30 launch, scheduled for March 2021. The 18-member ASTER team from LTU includes 8 from SpaceMaster Round 15, 8 from Spacecraft Design and 2 from the national Master in Space Engineering (Year 3 + Year 4).

ASTER aims to develop a high-performance, low-cost and easy to integrate attitude control system for free falling experiments ejected from sounding rockets. Current attitude control systems are targeted for orbital flights and therefore act relatively slowly, with attitude control maneuvers measured in orbits rather than minutes or seconds. Furthermore, they are usually aimed at projects with extensive funding, making them excessively expensive for experiments operating under tight budgetary requirements. Sounding rocket experiments are generally lower budget missions and are heavily constrained by flight time, and as such they would benefit greatly from a low-cost, high-performance solution.
ASTER's engineering solution utilises three electrically-powered reaction wheels to stabilise and orientate the free falling unit in three axes in a reduced gravity environment. The system shall be compact to ensure sufficient space to accommodate the payload of future missions. Additionally, it shall be able to achieve agile stabilization to increase the available time for experiments after successful stabilization. Furthermore, it should perform predefined slewing maneuvers to be adaptable to a wider range of applications. Follow the team on Facebook.

March 2020

Winners of 2018 Red Eagle Mars Lander Competition

A 10-member team of Round 13 SpaceMasters won the Mars Society's 2018 "Red Eagle" International Student Engineering Contest to design a lander capable of delivering a 10 tonne payload to the Martian surface. The SpaceMaster team, including Antonella Caldarelli, Arvind Vairavan, Bhardwaj Shastri, Felix Hessinger, Florian Reineram, Gabriel Jörg Schwarzkopf, Kartik Naik, Samuel Ocaña Losada, Shashikant Gupta and Sri Harsha Pavuluri, was selected from 5 finalists and awarded $10,000 USD for 1st place.

February 2020

Round 15

Round 15 SpaceMasters and students from the Master's program in Spacecraft Design are into their 2nd semester in Kiruna.

December 2019

Space Entrepreneurship

The new company PASQ Space Qualification has been established at Kiruna Space Campus, while Arctic Space Technologies, involving a Round 13 SpaceMaster graduate, has been founded in Luleå.

November 4, 2019

Round 13 Closing Ceremony

October 23-25, 2019

BEXUS 28 & 29

Round 14 SpaceMasters were among more than 70 space science and engineering students who participated in projects on this year's high-altitude Balloon EXperiments for University Students (BEXUS) flights, launched from Esrange, Sweden. Project IRISC (Infrared imaging of astronomical targets with a stabilized camera) flew on BEXUS 28 while R2C2 (Radar recognition of chaff clouds in the stratosphere) flew on BEXUS 29. More information here.

Follow Team IRISC via: https://www.facebook.com/pg/IRISCBexus/posts/ https://twitter.com/iriscbexus https://www.instagram.com/irisc_bexus/

Follow Team R2C2 via: https://www.r2c2bexus.com/ https://www.facebook.com/r2c2bexus/ https://www.instagram.com/r2c2bexus/p/BuBuJR2Ahv-/ https://twitter.com/hashtag/r2c2bexus?src=hash

October 19, 2019

Dvaraka Initiative Among Mars Colony Prize Finalists

SpaceMasters from Rounds 13 & 14 participated as Team Dvaraka in The Mars Colony Prize, a contest by The Mars Society for designing the best plan for a self-sustaining Mars colony of 1000 people. Contestants were challenged to consider technical, social, political, aesthetic and economic aspects when designing their plan. The Dvaraka Initiative, named after the mythical "city of gates" on the Arabian Sea, was among 25 semi-finalists from a field of 100 entries, and furthermore among 10 finalists selected to present their design at the 22nd Annual International Mars Society Convention, October 17-20 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Their presentation is available here (7:27:43 mark).

26.09.2019

European Space Talk

Students from Kiruna Space Campus participated in ESA's live European Space Talk at the HEC Paris Business School, with the theme "Europe's Next Space Generation." Philippe Willekens, ESA Head of Communications, thanked all participants for making the event a success, with over 2000 digital connections made in Europe and beyond.

July 2019

SpaceMasters at the EAC-SSC 2019

Round 13 SpaceMasters Andreas Fredmer, Suditi Chand and Shashikant Gupta attended the European Astronaut Centre Summer Showcase in Cologne, Germany, where they presented the SpaceMaster program and some of their Master's thesis work.

May 2019

Helsinki SpaceMasters at ICRA 2019

TKK/Aalto SpaceMaster Alumni from 5 rounds attended the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Montreal, Canada, May 20-24. In the photo from left to right are Eric Halbach (Round 1), Dorian Tsai (Round 6), Juxi Leitner (Round 3), Jens Lundell (Round 10) and Oliver Struckmeier (Round 12).

January 2019

New Collaboration

A new collaboration with the world famous ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden has been established. SpaceMaster students receive special prices at ICEHOTEL premises.

2018.11.21

UWE-3 Celebrates 5 Years of Orbital Operations

UWE-3, the third CubeSat developed at Würzburg University, celebrated 5 years of orbital operations after its launch on November 21, 2013 from the Dombarovsky (Yasny) Cosmodrome in Orenburg Oblast, Russia. The Dnepr-1 silo launch set a new record for most payloads carried into orbit by a single rocket, with 32 satellites on board.

UWE-3 features an advanced modular and flexible picosatellite bus architecture, increasing robustness, reducing mass and adding reliability to the overall system. It demonstrates the use of a real-time miniature attitude determination and control system using a variety of sensors, magnetic torques and one reaction wheel. UWE-3 is currently awaiting the arrival of UWE-4 in orbit. Visit the news page for the latest updates.

October 2018

SpaceMasters at the IAC

A large number of SpaceMasters attended the 69th International Astronautical Contress (IAC), held October 1-5 in Bremen, Germany. Below are SpaceMaster alumni in front of the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) stand together with the founders of the SpaceMaster program, Mr. Sven Molin from Luleå University of Technology, Sweden and Prof. Klaus Schilling from Julius-Maximilians Universität in Würzburg, Germany. Also present is Dr. Olle Norberg, Vice Rector of Space from Luleå University of Technology in Kiruna, Sweden.

Below left are Alumni Mrs. Katherine Pegg (and baby) from Round 4 and Mr. Samuel Webster from Round 3. Below right is Round 3 Alumnus Mr. Martin Siegl holding a presentation.

September 2018

Round 14 Begins

2018.02.25

SGAC Announces 2018 Global Grant Programme Recipients

Round 6 SpaceMaster Chiara Cocchiara was chosen as one of five candidates by the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) for their 2018 Global Grant Programme. The grants will facilitate the participation of the candidates in two space conferences in Colorado Springs, U.S.A. in April (more info).

December 2017

Season's Greetings from Kiruna

2017.12.18

Royal Visit

LTU's new vice-chancellor Birgitta Bergvall-Kåreborn and Prince Daniel of Sweden paid a visit to Kiruna and LTU Rymdcampus. More information in Swedish here

2017.10.27

Round 11 Closing Ceremony

October 2017

Round 13 Begins

2017.06.20

Women in Aerospace-Europe Student Award 2017

Round 12 SpaceMaster Damiana Catanoso has won the 2017 Women in Aerospace-Europe Student Award, presented June 20 at the ESA Pavilion of the Le Bourget-Paris Air and Space Show. Read more at the WIA-Europe website.

April 2017

SpaceMasters at Airbus Friedrichshafen

2017.03.23

30 Years of Erasmus

While 2017 marks the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, it's also a big milestone for the Erasmus Programme. Find out more about the last 30 years from Erasmus to Erasmus+.

2017.01.15

SpaceMaster in Forbes Top 30 Under 30

Round 6 SpaceMaster Chiara Cocchiara has been named in the prestigious Forbes Top 30 Under 30 list of top young innovators, entrepreneurs and game changers in the category Europe - Industry. At age 28, Chiara has participated in a Mars Desert Research Station mission, holds three Master's degrees in aerospace engineering, and works as a EUMETSAT System Operations Engineer at ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany. See Chiara's profile at forbes.com.

October 28, 2016

Round 10 Closing Ceremony

SpaceMaster celebrated its 10th graduating class with an event-filled extravaganza hosted by Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France. The Closing Ceremony took place on the grounds of the Cité de l'espace spaceflight discovery centre, after which a memorable dinner was held in the centre.

October 2016

Round 12 Begins

September 22, 2016

Ivan Lehocki wins 2015 Young Petroleum Geoscientist Award

Round 8 SpaceMaster Ivan Lehocki was selected as the recipient of the 2015 YPGA due to his significant contribution to exploration as a consultant and software engineer for the oil industry, as well as for his entrepreneurial and innovative spirit. Vidar Furuholt from award sponsor Det norske presented the diploma at the banquet of the Recent Advances in Exploration Technology conference on May 20th, 2015.

The Young Petroleum Geoscientist Awards is an initiative by GeoPublishing and the Geological Society of Norway, and is endowed by Det norske oljeselskap ASA.

April 13, 2016

EGU Outstanding Student Poster Award 2015

SpaceMaster congratulates Daniel Vech from Round 10 for receiving the 2015 Outstanding Student Poster Award from the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The poster, titled Planetary space weather effects on the bow shock, the magnetic barrier and the ion composition boundary at Venus, and more info is available here.

2016.01.11

Best Romanian Student of the Year

Round 10 SpaceMaster George-Cristian Potrivitu Bocanet has been nominated Best Romanian Student of the Year in Europe at the Bachelor's and Master's level by the League of Romanian Students Abroad. The award, granted for academic excellence, was presented at a televised gala event held at the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, with more than 1000 in attendance (more info).

2015.12.16

Team HARVeSt Wins ESA Moon Challenge Awards

Round 9 SpaceMaster Francesco Spina took part in the ESA Moon Challenge as a member of Team HARVeSt, composed of 13 young graduates and students coming from 8 countries and 3 continents. The team designed the HARVeSt:Moon (Human Assisted Robotic Vehicle Studies on the Moon) concept, a human-robotic partnership mission for the Lunar South Pole. The project was selected among the 3 finalists and presented with two awards, Second Prize and the Public Choice Award, by French astronaut Jean-François Clervoy at ESA's International Symposium on Moon 2020-2030, which took place at ESA ESTEC.

With an emphasis on novel, human-robot operations, HARVeSt:Moon is designed to test new technologies and make scientific discoveries that would pave the way for human settlement of the Moon and later, Mars. The HARVeSt mission would deploy a rover and plant growth chamber at the south polar region of the Lunar far side and has three major aims: to investigate plant growth in partial gravity, to demonstrate and qualify new technologies to enable future human and robotic exploration, such as in-situ construction or extraction of volatiles from shadowed areas, and to use the rover as a platform for international cooperation. Find out more from HARVeSt:Moon's video and Facebook page.

December 2015

Season's Greetings from Kiruna

Autumn 2015

Round 11 Begins

2015.11.04

Round 9 Closing Ceremony

2015.10.02

LavaHive Wins NASA Award

SpaceMasters Francesco Spina (Round 9), Tobias Mäxx Häfner (Round 9) and Jürgen Schleppi (Round 8) took part as members of Team LavaHive in the NASA 3D Printed Habitat Challenge, in which the aim was to build an innovative habitat for Mars using additive manufacturing technologies. Team members flew to New York City for the final event held September 26-27 at Maker Faire 2015, where they were awarded 3rd Prize. LavaHive was one of over 170 worldwide submissions, and the only non-US team to be awarded a prize in the NASA competition. Team members received congratulations from ESA, including tweets from all European Astronauts. More information about the project is available in the press release and at http://www.lavahive.com.

2015.09.04

SpaceBoard Update

SpaceBoard was initially started by a group of SpaceMaster Round 8 students, whose aim was to create an alumni platform for the different space programmes hosted at the Kiruna Space Campus. A few months ago, SpaceBoard underwent a significant project redefinition and image rebranding. The online platform was shut down in preparation for the exclusive pursuit of a new goal: building a niche professional network dedicated to the field of Space. The SpaceBoard team has set about creating a unified platform that serves all space industry players, promoting the advancement of space and fostering academic, professional and business opportunities. More information on objectives and motivations can be found on SpaceBoard’s front page.

2015.06.09

Ministerial Visit

Helen Hellmark Knutsson, Swedish Minister of Higher Education and Research, visited Kiruna and met SpaceMaster student Jonas Burgdorf, who showed the projects students have been working on during their education at the Luleå University of Technology in Kiruna, Sweden. Photo: Lars-Göran Norlin

2015.05 08

Bengt Hultqvist Prize

Round 9 SpaceMaster student Mr. Jonas Burgdorf, together with Ms. Moa Persson, student in the Civil Engineering Program at the Luleå University of Technology, Kiruna, Sweden, has been awarded the Bengt Hultqvist Prize from Rotary International, Club 12923 Kiruna for successful academic studies and contributions to space educational programmes in Kiruna. The candidates received the prize in Kiruna at a Rotary award ceremony on May 8, 2015.

2014.12.19

International Student Satisfaction Award

Luleå University of Technology (LTU) has won the StudyPortals Award for Excellent International Student Satisfaction 2014.

2014.11.25

SpaceMaster Continuing under Erasmus+

SpaceMaster Rounds 11-13 have been confirmed for 2015-2017. The program is continuing as an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) under Erasmus+.

2014.11.17

New Research Groups at LTU Kiruna

LTU increased its space research activities with the addition of two new research groups: Atmospheric Science and Onboard Space Systems, which will be led by two new professors, Dr. Javier Martin Torres and Dr. Reza Emami. This will strengthen the Space Campus in Kiruna and also increase recruitment to the new groups. In parallel to this, the Graduate School of Space Technology will start, with about 20 new PhD students.

2014.11.13

Round 8 Closing Ceremony

2014.09.04

Facilities for student projects at LTU

LTU's Space Campus in Kiruna possesses a number of facilities that are available for students who wish to conduct projects on their own. This can take place either in the framework of the REXUS/BEXUS program or as a project course for either 7.5 or 15 ECTS credits. For students at LTU taking part in REXUS/BEXUS, the Swedish National Space Board offers financial support of up to 30 000 SEK while for a project course, 2500 SEK is available from the University for each student. In both cases, the money is managed by the University and students request their tutor to procure parts. See the attached document for more information about the facilities and equipment which are available.

2014.08.27

Quality Review

We are proud to announce that the Joint European Master in Space Science and Technology-SpaceMaster Course has been labeled “a very interesting and valuable Erasmus Mundus Master Course” after an official 2014 Quality Review assessment by the European Commission. As a result, the SpaceMaster Course has been formally included to the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees (EMJMD) Catalogue of EACEA (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency). The SpaceMaster Course scores particularly well in terms of “attractiveness” and “sustainability.”

2014.08.01

COUGAR in China

Round 9 SpaceMaster Piotr Lewkowicz participated in the 2014 International Graduate Summer School in Aeronautics and Astronautics in Beijing, where he held a presentation about the SpaceMaster Program and COUGAR Project (a BEXUS 18 experiment). More information about COUGAR is available on YouTube and Twitter.

2014.07.07

Non-EU Graduates Eligible for Extended Stay

The Swedish Parliament has agreed to a visa permit extension of 6 months for non-European students after they have finished their education in Sweden. This gives students a great opportunity to seek a job and/or start their own business. Ph.D., Master's and Bachelor's students finishing soon (or who have already finished) can apply.

2014.06.19

SpaceMasters at iSAIRAS 2014

2014.05.16

ESA Grants for SpaceMaster Students

Three SpaceMaster students from Round 8, Mr. Michael Strohmeier, Mr. Franz Steinmetz and Mr. Jürgen Schleppi, have been awarded grants by the European Space Agency (ESA) Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations.

2014.05.16

Bengt Hultqvist Prize

Round 8 SpaceMaster student Mr. Maxime Sixdeniers, together with Ms. Kinga Albert, Master student in SpaceCraft Design at the Luleå University of Technology, has been awarded the Bengt Hultqvist Prize from Rotary International, Club 12923 Kiruna for successful academic studies and contributions to space educational programmes in Kiruna, Sweden. The candidates received the prize at a Rotary award ceremony on May 16, 2014 in Kiruna.

2013.11.20

Round 7 Closing Ceremony

2013.11.05

Hermann Oberth Gold Medal

Round 6 SpaceMaster Alumnus Florian Reichel was awarded the Hermann Oberth Gold Medal for Best Student Paper (Graduate Category) at the 64th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2013), the world's largest space conference, held this year September 23-27 in Beijing. The title of his paper was "Design, Test and Verification of a Miniature Attitude Control System for the Picosatellite UWE-3." SpaceMaster congratulates Florian on winning this prestigious award (weitere Informationen).

2013.10.18

SpaceMasters at ROBEX 2013

SpaceMasters George Tsakyridis and Roberto Sosa from Round 6 participated in the Robotic Exploration of Extreme Environments (ROBEX) Alliance 3rd Community Workshop in Bremen, Germany.

2013.10.9

SpaceMaster's New Alumni Platform

SpaceBoard, a project carried out by Round 8 students, was released on October 9, 2013. It aims to build a constructive and helpful network related to space. This first stage of the project provides users with alumni interviews, ongoing student projects, useful links, current developments in space and especially communication forums. The SpaceMaster community, from Round 1 to 9, now has a place to interact and share experiences. Find out more on the page!

2013.10.2

Round 9 Begins

2013.07.13

First Indian Small Satellite Developer Workshop

The First Indian Small Satellite Developer Workshop was organised in Chennai, India from July 8th to July 13 by Dhruva Space, a Bangalore-based startup. The event was a success and brought together many participants interested in space technology from various parts of India.
Participants included students, academicians and amateurs, with lectures delivered by SpaceMasters Sanjay Nekkanti and Narayan Prasad (Round 6), Jan Hakenberg (Round 2), and retired scientists from ISRO. Hands on training was provided by industry, with guest lectures given by NanoSatisfi (USA), GomSpace (Denmark) and Berlin Space Technologies (Germany). More information in the newsletter.

2013.03.14

ESA Space Weather Seminar

On March 14, 2013 the ESA-organized Space Weather Seminar was held in Rovaniemi, Finland, with the aim of getting people interested in Space Situational Awareness and space weather. SpaceMasters Dharma Srungavruksham (Round 6) and Ivan Sinkarenko (Round 7) were in attendance as social media outreach volunteers. Presentations from ESA experts Juha-Pekka Luntama, Emmet Fletcher, Timo Prusti and scientists from the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) were held at the Arktikum Science Museum, with great attention being paid to the presentation by NASA astronaut Don Pettit and his experience of photographing northern lights (Aurora Borealis) from space. In the second part of the day, participants moved to the Tähtelä Research Station near Sodankylä, where after a few more presentations a brief excursion was made to the EISCAT radar station. Finally, participants were brought to the Aurora House to watch auroras at night.

2013.02.24

Round 7 Reunion

2013.02.24

Dhruva Space featured in Postnoon

Dhruva Space, a startup founded by Round 6 SpaceMasters, was featured in the Indian daily Postnoon (article).

December 2012

SpaceMasters at the IEEE RAS Summer School

2012.12.14

PhD Defence at Kiruna Space Campus

On 14 December, 2012 Catherine Diéval will defend her PhD thesis titled “Solar wind ions inside the induced magnetosphere of Mars” in the Aula of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics in Kiruna. Faculty opponent is Dr. Christian Mazelle, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Toulouse, France. (Press release)
Catherine Diéval has a Master's degree in astrophysics, planetary- and space research from the Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France and is a part of the research program "Solar System Physics and Space Technology” at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics. She is also enrolled at Luleå University of Technology (LTU), in the Department of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering as well as belonging to the Graduate School in Space Technology at LTU.

2012.10.24

Round 6 Closing Ceremony

October 2012

Dhruva Space

Round 6 SpaceMasters Sanjay Nekkanti and Narayan Prasad have founded Dhruva Space, a new Bangalore-based start-up dedicated to leading the privatization of the space sector in India. Read Dhruva Space's mission statement.

October 2012

Round 8 Begins

September 2012

Round 6 Aalto Group Graduates

2012.09.06

SpaceMasters at iSAIRAS 2012

2012.06.18

Round 6 CTU Group Graduates

2012.05.11

Bengt Hultqvist Prize

Round 6 SpaceMaster student Mr. Sergio Martin Del Campo Barraza, together with Mr. Viktor Andersson from the Civil Engineering Programme in Space Technology at the Luleå University of Technology, has been awarded the Bengt Hultqvist Prize from Rotary International, Club 12923 Kiruna for successful academic studies and contributions to space educational programmes in Kiruna, Sweden. The candidates received the prize at a Rotary award ceremony on May 11, 2012 in Kiruna.

2012.05.03

International Space Station Symposium

Four SpaceMaster students from Rounds 6 and 7 were selected by the Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations, ESA to participate as invited guests at the International Space Station Symposium, 2-5. May, 2012 in Berlin.

2011.12.22

LTU Diploma Supplement Label

LTU är ett av 55 lärosäten i Europa som fått utmärkelsen Diploma Supplement Label 2011-2014.
Diploma Supplement är ett tillägg på engelska till examensbeviset och som beskriver utbildningen och det svenska utbildningssystemet och är tänkt att underlätta erkännandet av högskoleutbildningar inom hela Europa och även andra delar av världen, såväl i den akademiska världen som i yrkeslivet.
Label är en kvalitetsutmärkelse som visar att LTU tar internationellt samarbete på allvar och att vi uppfyller kraven från EU kommissionen hur Diploma supplement ska utfärdas.

LTU was one of 55 universities in Europe awarded the European Commission's Diploma Supplement Label for 2011-2014.
The Diploma Supplement is a supplement in English to the qualifications, describing the training and the Swedish education system and is meant to facilitate the recognition of higher education throughout Europe and other parts of the world, both in academia and in professional life.
The Label is a quality award, which shows that LTU takes international cooperation seriously and that it meets the demands of the EU Commission for which the Diploma Supplement is issued.

2011.12.05

Erasmus Mundus Application Windows

The EU Commission has decided that for the intake of Erasmus Mundus 2012-2013, there will be a "Western Balkans and Turkey window(1)" a "Tunisia and Egypt window(2)" and an "Eastern Neighbourhood Countries window(3)". This means that some Erasmus Mundus scholarships are allocated to students from these countries. Do notice that the deadline for these students is the same as for non-EU students, that means 16 January, 2012.
(1) Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo under UNSC Resolution 1244/99, Turkey
(2) Tunisia and Egypt
(3) Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine

November 2011

Round 6 Reunion

After splitting up among the partner universities for their 2nd year, several Round 6 students met up in Toulouse for a Thanksgiving get-together.

November 2011

Round 5 Graduation

2011.10.04

Round 7 Begins

2011.06.01

Round 6 Visits Esrange

2011.05.30

Integrated Modeling of Complex Optomechanical Systems Symposium

Lund Observatory and the Division of Space Technology at the Luleå University of Technology are arranging a symposium in Kiruna, Northern Sweden: “Integrated Modeling of Complex Optomechanical Systems,” August 15-17, 2011. Kiruna was selected, first, for the important space-related research facilities that exist around the area, including the Division of Space Technology, the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, EISCAT headquarters, and the Esrange Space Center of the Swedish Space Corporation. Second, Northern Sweden is well-known for its beautiful landscape with hundreds of kilometers of hiking trails, fine fishing locations, and plenty of opportunities for outdoor adventure also for less trained people. We hope that attendees can profit from this opportunity and combine an exciting symposium with outdoor or nature-related activities. We will arrange tours to the space facilities in Kiruna and we will make an evening trip by bus to the end of the road in Nikkaluokta for a barbeque at a Sami tent.

2011.04.21

Round 6 in Kiruna

2011.03.03

Round 5 Closing Ceremony

The Round 5 Closing Ceremony and scientific conference will be held in Prague 8-10 November, 2011.

2010.12.23

Round 6 in Würzburg

2010.11.5

Royal Visit

H.R.H. Princess Victoria and H.R.H. Prince Daniel of Sweden visited LTU on November 5, 2010. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof. Erik Höglund (at left) informed the Crown Princess Couple about LTU's educational and research programmes. At right is Olle Nordberg, Director of Teknikens Hus.

2010.10.28

Round 4 Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony for Round 4 was held at UPS, Toulouse on October 28, 2010. In the morning, students from Rounds 4 and 5 and academic staff from the Consortium visited Thales Alenia Space and Spot Image. In the afternoon, LTU deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof. Erik Höglund opened the ceremony and awarded Round 4 students with LTU memorable certificates. Prof. Dupré, Director of the Midi-Pyrénées Observatory, welcomed the participants on behalf of the President of UPS Prof. Gilles Fourtanier. Round 4 and 5 students made scientific presentations about their Master's thesis and internship projects. Former Round 3 students shared their experiences during and after their SpaceMaster studies. Members from the External Advisory Board (CNES, Spot Image, Thales Alenia Space and Astrium) presented their activities in relation to the SpaceMaster Course.

2010.10.4

Round 6 Begins

Round 6 students, representing 22 countries, began their 1st semester at JMUW, Germany.

2010.08.17

'Youth on the Move' debate with EU Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou

On September 17, Commissioner Vassiliou will be hosting a webstreamed public debate on 'Youth on the Move,' the Commission's flagship initiative on promoting learning mobility and improving young people's skills and job perspectives. The Commissioner will respond to questions both from members of a live audience and from the public, via the web (more info).

2010.03.29

Maxus-8 Launch

ESA’s Maxus-8 sounding rocket was launched 2010-03-26 from Kiruna in northern Sweden carrying four microgravity research modules on a hectic 12-minute space voyage. The ultimate results may include improved turbine blades for aircraft engines. At 14:43 CET, Maxus-8 took off from the launch pad at the Esrange Space Centre watched by Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA, Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight, Olle Norberg, Director General of the Swedish National Space Board, and Lars Persson, Director of the Swedish Space Corporation.
The Maxus programme is funded by ESA through the European Programme for Life and Physical Science in Space (ELIPS), with the sounding rocket and launch services provided to ESA by an industrial joint venture between EADS Astrium and the Swedish Space Corporation (more info).

2010.01.01

Aalto University

The Helsinki University of Technology, one of the SpaceMaster Consortium members, has been merged into the newly-founded Aalto University, together with the Helsinki School of Economics and University of Art and Design Helsinki. From the Aalto University website: The combination of three universities opens up new possibilities for strong multi-disciplinary education and research. The new university's ambitious goal is to be one of the leading institutions in the world in terms of research and education in its own specialised disciplines.

2009.10.27

Spaceport Partnership

Representatives from Spaceport Sweden and Spaceport America met this past week to confirm their aim of developing in parallel as sister spaceports, a partnership initiated in January 2009 when the two groups signed a memorandum of understanding. This week's meeting took place in Las Cruces, New Mexico at the International Symposium of Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS). Two presentations were made by the Swedish team; the first was held by Mr. Bengt Jaegtnes, Vice President for Spaceport Sweden, who talked about new investments at Kiruna Airport in order to enable commercial spaceflight. The second was held by Mr. Dan Bjork, Marketing Director at ICEHOTEL, who spoke about the importance of developing the tourist concept in parallel with the space facilities. More information (in Swedish) in Visionbladet.

2009.10.02

Round 3 Closing Ceremony

2009.09.23

Launch of UWE-2

UWE-2, the second Cubesat developed at Würzburg University, successfully reached orbit today, piggybacked aboard an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

The launch was followed live at an event held in the Robotics Hall at Hubland Campus. The first decoded beacons from UWE-2 were received later in the day during its second pass over Würzburg, confirming its operational status.

2009.09.01

Round 5 Begins

The Round 5 SpaceMasters have now started their 1st semester at JMUW in Würzburg, Germany. This is the final round of the first edition of SpaceMaster. Round 6, of the new edition of SpaceMaster, will start in early September 2010.

2009.07.20

SpaceMaster Selected for Erasmus Mundus II

The extended SpaceMaster Consortium has been selected by the EU Commission to become an Erasmus Mundus Master in the new Erasmus Mundus II framework. In this new framework there are very good scholarships for both non-EU and EU students. The deadlines for the application is 1 December for non-EU students and 15 April for EU- students.

2009.06.08

Würzburg University Summer Informatik Colloquium

Astronaut Thomas Reiter was the guest speaker at Würzburg University's Summer 2009 Informatik Colloquium. Mr. Reiter has spent a total of more than one year in Earth orbit, on missions aboard the Space Shuttle, space station Mir and International Space Station. He spoke about his experiences working in this unique environment at a lecture in the Turing Hall of the Informatik Building Am Hubland.

2009.05.05

Planetary Rover Symposium

Top international planetary robotics experts met at the Planetary Rover Symposium April 20-21, 2009 at TKK's Department of Automation and Systems Technology. Dr. Richard Volpe, manager of the Mobility and Robotic Systems Section at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), talked about the history of space robotics, NASA's rover missions to Mars, and the status of current robotic technology research. Gianfranco Visentin, head of ESA Automation and Robotics Section, presented the ESA's space robotics development. Soviet and Russian planetary and mobile robots in 1963-2007 was presented by Alexei Bogatchev (Science & Technology Rover Company, St. Petersburg, Russia), while Professor of Embedded Systems at the University of Oulu, Juha Röning, talked about the robotics research at Oulu University and their experiences at the ESA Lunar Rover Challenge.

2009.03.20

Ambassadorial Visits

The Ambassador of Japan, Mr. Akiro Nakajima, visited the Space Campus in Kiruna on March 13, 2009. He was very interested in the ground station shown by Dr. Victoria Barabash and Mr. Leif Carlsson. The Ambassador of India, Mr. Balkrishna Shetty, visited the Space Campus in Kiruna on March 9, 2009. He promised to request financial support for students from India from the authorities.

2009.03.20

Round 4 in Kiruna

SpaceMaster Round 4 came to Kiruna on February 16, 2009. The weather was beautiful, sunshine and 25 degrees below zero, which was a special occasion for most of the students who had never experienced such cold weather. The first day the students got information from LTU, IRF, EISCAT and Spaceport Sweden. During the following weeks the students had planned visits to the Ice-Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, the ironore-mine in Kiruna and to Esrange.

2009.03.20

Prime Ministerial Visit

The Swedish Prime Minister, Mr. Fredrik Reinfeldt, visited the Space Campus in Kiruna on February 11, 2009. He meet representatives of the Department of Space Science, the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, the Swedish Space Corporation (Esrange) and EISCAT. LTU presented and discussed plans for the future of space related activities in Kiruna.

2009.03.20

PRISM Nano-Satellite

The 8kg "PRISM" nano-satellite developed by University of Tokyo students was launched by an H-IIA launch vehicle from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan at 12:54 pm, January 23, 2009. The first CW (Continuous Wave) beacon was captured by Kiruna Ground Station at the Department of Space Science, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. This satellite operation was performed in the framework of an international project of collaborative ground station operations between the SpaceMaster Programme, Department of Space Science, Luleå University of Technology, and University of Tokyo. More information in the press release.

2009.02.09

TKK Planetary Rover Symposium

A planetary rover symposium, supported by the Erasmus Mundus SpaceMaster program, will be held at the Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) on April 20-21, 2009. The planned guest speakers Dr. Samad Hayati (JPL/NASA), Mr. Gianfranco Visentin (ESA), and Mr. Alexei Bogatchev (Rover Company/St. Petersburg) will review robotic space programs and present their current research activities.

2008.12.12

Erasmus Mundus Application Windows

The EU Commission has decided that for the intake of Erasmus Mundus 2009-2010, there will be a "Western Balkans and Turkey Window." This means that students from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo under UNSC Resolution 1244/99, as well as the three candidate countries, namely Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey can apply for Erasmus Mundus scholarships.

2008.10.30

Round 2 Graduation

Round 2 SpaceMaster students received their graduation certificates on 24. of October, 2008 in Würzburg.

2008.10.07

Round 4 Begins

SpaceMaster Round 4 students have now arrived in Würzburg for the start of the first semester at JMUW.

2008.05.09

Round 2 Graduation

The SpaceMaster Round 2 Graduation Ceremony will be held on October 24, 2008 in Würzburg.

2007.11.28

ESA Grants

Three SpaceMaster students from Round 2 (Paavo Heiskanen, Jan Hakenberg and Felix Cabrera) have been awarded grants by the Human Exploration Promotion Division, European Astronaut Department, Directorate of Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration, ESA.

2007.11.22

SpaceMaster Global Partnership

Information and application forms for the SpaceMaster Global Partnership programme (Erasmus Mundus Action 3) are now available.

2007.09.26

Round 1 Graduation

In Würzburg's baroque Residence, the first students from the European study curriculum “SpaceMaster – Master in Space Science and Technology” received their certificates on 21. of September. More information in the press release.

2007.09.18

Bengt Hultqvist Prize

The 10th Bengt Hultqvist Prize for "the best space engineering students of 2007" was awarded at the Space Campus in Kiruna. This year's prize was shared by Thomas Ott and Israel Alejandro Arriago Trejo.

2007.05.24

SpaceMaster Global Partnership

The SpaceMaster Action 3 Proposal for SpaceMaster's Global Partnership has been selected by the EU Commission.

2007.05.08

BEXUS 5

The 5th BEXUS (Balloon EXperiment for University Students) mission was successfully completed on 28 March 2007 at the Esrange Space Center in Sweden. After lift-off, the balloon ascended to about a 25 km ceiling, with a total flight time of 3.5 hours. The balloon carried on-board two experiments with SpaceMaster participation. More information is available here.

2006.11.07

GENSO Project

Two consortium universities (Würzburg and Luleå) are participating in the ESA Global Educational Network for Satellite Operations (GENSO) project. The Department of Space Science (IRV) ground station in Kiruna has been identified as an exemplary student ground station. The work at IRV ground station is predominantly done by SpaceMaster students.

2006.09.26

New Brochure

A new SpaceMaster brochure has been published for the academic year 2007-2009.

2006.09.11

Round 2 Begins

The new group of SpaceMaster students have now arrived in Würzburg for the start of the first semester at JMUW.