Master of Space Studies ready for lift-off
The right combination at the right time
Tine Bergen
As of next academic year, K.U.Leuven and Ghent University will offer a Master’s of Space Studies; a one-year programme about space travel and space research. The Master’s is the first of its kind in Europe and will be taught in English. Students graduating from this programme will not be astronauts, but masters with a thorough knowledge of space travel. “It is an interdisciplinary programme, rooted in a broad academic framework,” Professor Christoffel Waelkens, one of the founders of the programme, tells us.
“Society is concerned with space travel on various levels,” Waelkens adds. “Everyone spontaneously thinks either of the technology that is constantly being developed for it or of the scientific research that is carried out, but one must also consider the developments in telecommunication, Earth observation and climate studies. Defensive policy and other policy issues are also important factors. Take agricultural policy for example. From space, it is possible to track precisely which crops are being cultivated and how they are developing. In short, space travel has an enormous impact on the world and this impact must also be regulated. The European Union will only be significant in the world if it holds its ground with respect to space travel.”
Consequently, there is a great need for highly trained specialists, who know the field of space travel. Waelkens: “All the more so because the ‘generation of pioneers’ is disappearing slowly. The field of space travel needs engineers, but those engineers need to be trained in management as well, for example. Conversely, it is important that policymakers know which techniques exist so they know what is possible and what is not. It is this interdisciplinary approach that defines the uniqueness of our programme, as well as the broader academic environment in which the programme is rooted. For example, I am not only an astronomer with respect to space travel. Professor Jan Wouters is specialised in international law and considers the European Space Agency to be an international institution with an individual character, in the broader context of international law.”
“We are convinced that the students we are looking for could come from every possible sector, though their background would have to consist of the right combination of elements. For example, humanities students who are not afraid of formulas or engineers who are aware of the fact that they should also understand social issues. Besides the ‘basics’, which all students are taught, the students are permitted to choose a legal, scientific or technological specialisation, depending on their field of expertise.”
The programme is an unsubsidised advanced master’s programme. Waelkens: “But it is a programme that equips the students for fairly high-level careers and from this perspective, the expensive enrolment fee of 5600 Euros is a good investment. The sector also provides a lot of sponsoring in kind. For example, the industry provides topics for Master’s theses and experts who come to teach.”
“The pioneers of the first generation are also involved in the programme. After all, they do not only have expertise, but connections as well. ESA has also promised to send people. As a result, we can offer our students an immensely rich and varied programme. We hope the government will also provide sponsoring through scholarships, for example. Ultimately, our aims are also theirs.”
The programme originated and developed at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Space Studies (ICSS). Waelkens: "This centre was founded in response to the fact that we were all concerned with space travel within our own fields of expertise, but that we didn’t really communicate with our colleagues who were researching space travel from other perspectives. We are currently trying to combine all this expertise in the ICSS. It is when you speak to one another that ideas take on new forms. Moreover, in my experience, the best way to learn from one another is by teaching your own material.”
“In the meantime, the Master of Space Studies has found its own way and LASA, the Leuven Centre for Aeronautics and Space, Science and Applications, has developed out of the ICSS. Projects based on the co-operation of various disciplines are central at LASA as well. For example, we are currently collaborating with the engineers who make our instruments. Not only do we test them and design software to use them, we have now reached the point where we participate in designing and developing them. As a result, we are an interface between the scientific world and the industry.”
The Master of Space Studies is not the best option for people who want to become astronauts. Waelkens: “But it may help. Astronauts are trained very thoroughly and of course we hope that ESA will also send them to us to participate in our programme, because it will certainly be enriching for them.”
“I don’t feel the urge to travel into space personally. There are so many places on Earth that I will never see and the cost-benefit analysis would not be advantageous to me either. Manned space travel is incredibly expensive and current technology is so advanced that I am able to look at beautiful images from space without having to travel there myself. Understanding the cosmos is what directs my life, though the Earth itself is perhaps the most wonderful thing in the whole universe.”
“Space travel primarily causes technological developments, but on a broader social scale, its most important contribution is the image of the Earth it has given us. We had to travel into space to be able to see what a fantastic Earth we inhabit.”
Online: http://www.kuleuven.be/EMASPACE
