Parabolic Flight opportunities for Masters and PhD Students

May 07, 2010

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.