Students

Current Projects

Projects will be added here as they come in (expired projects are shown as examples). Click on the title to read the project description. Before you apply, make sure to read this page and the handbook so you don’t miss any important information.

ProjectCompany DeadlineProject startAdvert
Feasibility Study for Air Launch of Space Based Sensors (or Weapons)MBDA30/06/23By end of Oct 2023Apply here
Development of a low-cost radio and phase detectorTechApp Consultants Ltd28/02/23By April 2023Apply here
Understanding the Carbon Footprint of Satellites: From Launch to PixelCallala LtdOngoingBy Feb 2023Apply here
Selection and Development of a Small Commercial Camera and Lighting System for Imaging in SpaceAstroscale31/01/22By end of March 2022Apply here
Space Based Solar Power Orbital SimulationsSpace Power31/05/21By Oct 2021Apply here
Heat flux sensor for reusable re-entry vehicle Space Forge1/06/21By Oct 2021 Apply here
Semi-Autonomous collision avoidance for satellite capture systemSpace Forge1/06/21By Oct 2021 Apply here
Bio Satellite Sample Recovery Sub-System DesignSpaceBorn United20/06/21By Oct 2021Apply here

What this is

In the final or penultimate year of your degree you’ll have to complete a lengthy individual project. Often the choice of topics is limited and you might not get something that excites you. Here, you can find a project proposed by a space organisation.

Browse the currently available topics below, apply, and get supported throughout by a supervisor from the organisation.

What are the benefits?

Through a collaboration, you have a lot more to gain compared to a standard project, and will draw on the benefits during and after your degree. 

It’s part of your degree, plus you get…

Practical experience – try out your ideas and knowledge in a real life project 

New skills – learn how to do work alongside a professional organisation

Professional experience – gain experience that will strengthen your professional profile

Job insights – discover what you might want to work in after graduation and improve your job prospects

Tell me more…

The key to making this a success is you being proactive and thorough in communicating with your university. Your university will want to make sure that the scope of the project fulfills the intended learning outcomes for your project module, and you’ll have to find an academic supervisor before you can apply to a project. This could take a while, so start the conversations early! 

Other things to find out from your university:

  • Deadline for project selection
  • Rough start/end dates of the project

We recommend talking to your module lead and your head of department. Your department may already have specific rules in place for this sort of collaboration so it’s worth researching these beforehand.

During the project, you’ll have an academic supervisor from your department, who will advise on the general processes related to completing the project, and a supervisor from the organisation you’re working with, who will guide you through the technical completion of the project and who you can ask specific questions related to the project content. 

Scheme Handbook

All the details about the scheme are provided in this handbook. Make sure to read it carefully!

PDF version: Link

Selection Process

If requested by the host organisation, the SpaceProjects team will conduct an initial selection process, narrowing down to three or more applicants, before sending applications on to the host to conduct the final selection. In our initial selection, one of the main things we want to see is your ability to take the initiative, as this is one of the key factors that will determine the success of the project.  

Testimonials

“I would say that undertaking a project with a company allowed me to deeper understand how university learning could be applied in real-world engineering environments. The ability to meet regularly with Space Forge helped to give my project structure, and allowed me to learn from them and bounce my ideas off of others prior to submitting my final report. It was particularly useful to be given a set of requirements at the start of my project to shape my research, and this allowed me to explore areas I might not have thought of myself. Completing this project in partnership with Space Forge also gave me a unique motivation when getting overwhelmed with university deadlines – the idea that something I designed could one day go to space really pushed me to keep searching for new ideas. I was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to continue my project after submitting my dissertation and it’s been extremely rewarding so far to explore how to bring my largely theoretical dissertation to life, and get some practical engineering experience after the past two years of primarily online learning!”

Katherine Addo, University of Strathclyde, who worked with Space Forge on the project “Heat flux sensor for reusable re-entry vehicle”.

Contact

If you have any questions at any point, get in touch with us at spaceprojects@ukseds.org