Master of Science in Space Studies

  Admission requirements | Study programme | Assets | Career prospects| Registration fee | More information | Application

Fact sheet

The Master's

The space sector is an important component of modern life, in terms of economic, social, technological and scientific developments. The future of the sector and of its manifold applications which sustain the prosperity of our society requires the formation of highly skilled experts with a broad interdisciplinary perspective. The development of innovative technologies is fostered by an intense symbiosis between technological sectors and the challenges set by fundamental research in exact and biomedical sciences. The economic and social valorisation of space technologies requires an efficient relationship between project developers and the economic sector. The large scale of space projects imposes important constraints on their management. The international character of the space sector and of its broad applications, including the relevance of space for security and defence, implies a need for European and international legal and political measures.

International, national and regional institutions and industries are involved through guest lecturers and through their participation in the description and supervision of Master’s thesis projects.

Admission requirements

To the definitive admission requirements
Click the -icon next to 'admission requirements'.

Study programme

The programme is conceived as an advanced Master’s programme and as such it addresses students who have successfully completed an initial Master’s programme in either the humanities and social sciences, exact sciences and technology or biomedical sciences.

The interdisciplinary nature of the programme is expressed by the common core of 23 credits of introductory courses that are mandatory for every student, and through which the student becomes acquainted with the different aspects that together form the foundation of space-related activities. A high level of knowledge transfer accompanies the diverse backgrounds of the students who participate in the programme.

Depending on their background and interests, students have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge through more domain-specific optional courses, for a total of 22 credits, covering the domains of (A) Space Law, Policy, Business and Management, (B) Space Sciences and (C) Space Technology and Applications, with the possibility to combine the latter two.

For the Master’s thesis (15 credits), students are embedded in a research team of one of the organising universities, or in an external institute, organisation or industrial company, in which case an academic supervisor is assigned as the coordinator of the project. The Master’s thesis is the final section of the interdisciplinary programme, in which the acquired knowledge and abilities are applied to a complex and concrete project.

To a detailed overview of the programme

Assets

After the successful completion of the programme, the student will have acquired:

• thorough insight into the structure of European programmes of space research and applications
• insight into the different steps of the development of a space project
• the capacity to evaluate a space mission or project within the socio-economic and scientific contexts
• knowledge of research methods and techniques
• abilities for the application and development of paradigms in the fields of exact, technological and social sciences
• creative abilities to contribute to the realisation of complex projects, with special emphasis on collaboration in an interdisciplinary environment

Career prospects

Students who complete this programme successfully will be in a position to develop a career in the space sector or in space research. In light of his/her previous degree as well, the student will receive access to the space industry (engineers, product developers and technical-commercial functions with a high degree of technical and financial responsibilities), to research institutions with activities in space (researchers and project developers) and to (inter)governmental bodies with responsibilities in research and development programmes related to space (project managers and directors, policy makers on national, European and international levels). The spectrum of activities should not only encompass the space sector as such, but also the broader context of companies and organisations which use or are facilitated by space missions.

Registration fee

To the definitive registration fees

Motivated and talented international students, interested in participating in an international master programme of the Faculty of Science of the KU Leuven are invited to apply for a scholarship.

More information

Contact prof. Christoffel Waelkens

Contact prof. Dirk vandepitte

Application