Seven astronaut positions are available for an analogue space mission. The EPFL Space@yourService student association launched the recruitment of analogue astronauts on the 15th of June 2020. It will end the on 7th of July at midnight (swiss time).
They will participate in its second mission, ASCLEPIOS II. Students from all over the world can send their application. During one week, they will live like astronauts occupying a lunar base.
International recruitment
You only need to be over 18 years old and a student (above baccalaureate level) to participate. Students can apply by sending a cover letter and a CV in English to "[email protected]" before the 7th of July 2021 .
The whole procedure is explained on the project's website. Last year, there were 194 participants for 8 selected with a total of 7 nationalities. Even more, counting the 80 members of the engineering teams!
"Analogue" missions
The Asclepios project organizes similar missions by and for students. These missions simulate real space activities while remaining on Earth. They provide a platform for laboratories and the industry to test their equipment under realistic conditions.
The student aspect of the project is inherited from the parent association S@yS. The motivation comes from the fact that today's students will most likely be tomorrow's astronauts and aerospace engineers. They can therefore gain their first experience today thanks to the Asclepios project and its missions.
Supervised students
But the teams are well supervised. The project forges partnerships with educational institutions to enable academic work to be carried out. Professional mentors such as Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier or Professor Bernard Foing of the European Space Agency (ESA) advise the members. Within a year these students were already ready to carry out their first mission before Covid-19 compromised the launch.
An association at the origin of the project
The project is the work of Space@yourService, an association of students from EPFL whose aim is to promote space sciences to the general public. In particular, it organises the Asclepios project, the Lausanne edition of Astronomy on Tap and the Vivalys mission (a similar mission for young children).
