About the Master's Programme
The students have to attend specific courses during the first semester (30 ECTS altogether) and they have to do a laboratory thesis in the fourth semester (30 ECTS) to obtain their Master's degree.
Written examinations are mainly given at the end of a course. Seminars and lab work are part of the courses.
Study Abroad Unit(s)
Participants spend the first semester in Würzburg, Germany. Second semester takes place in Kiruna, Sweden. Third and fourth semester may lead to yet another country.
Course Objectives
The Consortium unifies expertise from a broad range of European universities to create a Joint European Master's in space science and technology with high-quality modules in space studies. The students will take part in projects and research activities during work in projects and their Master's thesis. Many of these projects will take place in close collaboration with the European Space Industry. SpaceMaster has the potential to provide Europe's space industry and research institutions with high-quality engineers and researchers in the fields of space studies. The first, commonly spent year will create tight and long-lasting contacts and friendship between the European students and those from third countries - hopefully they will continue to collaborate in their future careers.
Furthermore, the students in the SpaceMaster programme will experience many different European climates, natures and cultures - German, Scandinavian, French, Czech and English - helping to break down the mental borders between different countries of Europe. Scientific projects require more and more expensive equipment to study our planet and the universe surrounding it, equipment that cannot be funded by one country alone and requires a strong collaboration between the scientific communities of each country. Such collaboration cannot take place without an understanding of the culture of the countries involved and strong links between European scientists.
Study-Sequence
1. Semester - Uni Würzburg, Germany
2. Semester - Space Campus in Kiruna, Sweden
3./4. Semester - one of the Partner-Universities,
depending on the selected field of specialization.
• Modules of the First Semester:
Space Physics
Spacecraft System Design
Spacecraft Dynamics
JAVA Programming
Internet Technologies
Advanced Databases
CanSat Design Workshop
• Modules of the Second Semester:
Spacecraft Environment Interaction
Electronics in Space
Image Processing and Remote Sensing
Optics- and Radar-based Observations
• Specialization Options during 3. and 4. Semester
Technical/Engineering Track:
• Structural Dynamics and Control
Cranfield University, England
• Space Automation and Control
Czech Technical University Prague, Czech Republic
• Space robotics
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany
or
Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
• Space Technology and Instrumentation
Luleå Technical University, Sweden
Science Track:
• Space, Atmospheric and Solar physics
Luleå Technical University, Sweden
• Space physics, Astrophysics, Planetology
Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
• Spatial techniques and Instrumentation
Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
• Double Master Degree Master of Science – MSc. :
Degree Certificates from the two Universities where the major part of studies have been performed.
About the Department
The main research objectives of the chair concern interdisciplinary system design with emphasis on
• Telematics-integrating telecommunications, computer science and control engineering
• Robotics and Mechatronics - integrating electronics, mechanics, sensors, control engineering, information processing
in international cooperation, including international staff and international university partnerships.
Mobile Robots
Activities are related to sensor systems for navigation and to control methods for
• rovers for remote dangerous environments
• industrial transport robots
Space Exploration
Space vehicle design offers interesting system design tasks at examples of limited complexity, but for extreme environments. Thus motivating tasks for interdisciplinary engineering approaches result. Our emphasis is on information processing for combining tele-operation strategies with autonomous reactions.
In the European Mars Rover design MIDD, we had in an international team responsibility for system design, sensor system layout, teleoperations concept and on-board data processing.
Within the CubeSat program of Stanford University a design effort is also in Würzburg initiated
n October 2004 the European space probe HUYGENS will land on the Saturnian moon Titan with an adaptive descent control developed by us
About the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg
With over 600 years of tradition, the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg is today one of Germany's mid-sized universities. 400 professors in 10 faculties here teach roughly 20,000 students.
The University of Würzburg is among the leading institutions of higher education in Germany; this has been confirmed by rankings carried out by national and international research organizations, international external assessment committees as well as by the German Federal and State Excellence Initiatives (founded in 2006). Internationally, the University of Würzburg is also one of the top-ranking academic institutions in many fields of research and study.
As early as the early 1990s, the university had already begun establishing interdisciplinary research centers, in which new topics of research could be addressed and innovative courses of study created. These interdisciplinary centers have become the international trademark of the University of Würzburg. Numerous external assessment committees confirm this.
Most recently, the university's priorities have been focused on the International Graduate School, established in 2004. The school's intention is to provide all doctoral students structured learning opportunities to accompany their first professional academic pursuits. The University of Würzburg is particularly devoted to supporting the next generation of young academics.
The creation of new centers has acquired incredible momentum and has established Würzburg as one of the top institutions of higher learning in Germany. Currently, the nine Collaborative Research Centers and nine graduate research training groups are an indication of this momentum. The Collaborative Research Centers and graduate research training groups were established with grants from the German Research Institute (DFG). Underpinning the competitive nature of applying for DFG research grants, Axel Haase, President of the University of Würzburg, remarks: "the chances of being awarded a DFG grant are generally around 20 percent."
Today, the quality of the scientific research is measured by the number of research projects funded by government initiatives, private foundations, and industry. The number of publications in internationally-respected journals like Nature or Science is also a gauge of excellence in research.
|
