UNOOSA 2020 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.

You may also check:

Benefits

The selected research team will be offered financial support exclusively for travel purposes. This may include the provision of most economical economy class round-trip air tickets between the participants’ international airport of departure and Bremen. En-route expenses or any changes made to the air tickets must be the responsibility of the participants.

In this context it has to be noted that UNOOSA will not bear the expenses for the preparation, transport and shipping as well as insurance of the experiment. Funding to cover these costs must be obtained separately, through private means or through national or international institutions. Applicants and their respective entities are therefore strongly encouraged to find additional sources of sponsorship.