The European Space Agency is asking students around the world to offer ideas for a space mission to be launched in 2010. The project is called YES3, the third project in ESA's Young Engineer's Satellite Program designed to give students the chance to plan and build space hardware.
More than 450 students from 50 universities have taken part in the ESA program. A 771-pound satellite built by European students was successfully launched in October 1997.
YES2, scheduled for launch in September 2007, will deploy its own mini-satellite and re-entry vehicle called Fotino. The mission involves the first use of a tether to return a payload from space, paving the way for a safe, low-cost return capability as an alternative to conventional rocket propulsion.
Students, professors and universities are being asked to come up with groundbreaking ideas for YES3. If their ideas are selected, they'll be asked to help design and build the project.
All proposals must be submitted to the ESA in final form no later than Oct. 20 and preferably about a week before the YES3 Workshop, scheduled in Patras, Greece Oct. 12-13.
Source: United Press International
