UCL DEPARTMENT of SPACE & CLIMATE PHYSICS
MULLARD SPACE SCIENCE LABORATORY
“ I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space. There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But
I'm an optimist. We will reach out to the stars.
”
Professor Stephen Hawking
Space is the ultimate frontier of human exploration in the quest for understanding the Universe. Going into space challenges all facets of human endevour, from physics, chemistry and engineering, to biology and medicine.
Since the dawn of the space age over 50 years ago, the UK has reached out to explore, understand and exploit space for the benefit of all. With UK technology in orbit around Saturn, Mars, Venus and the Moon, as well as countless Earth-orbiting satellites, the UK has an enviable position at the forefront of world-wide space research.
The space industry contributes about £ 9Bn per annum to the UK economy, and UK science and engineering expertise today features in over 60 operational missions – from XMM-Newton , the largest
X-ray telescope ever built – to Galileo , Europe’s first satellite navigation system. The space sector is very broad: from ‘upstream’ activities involving building and operating spacecraft and groundstations, to ‘downstream’ exploitation of space assets for navigation, communications, remote sensing and space science.
UCL (University College London) has been vigorously involved in space research since the early 1950s and most of its space activities are concentrated in the Department of Space and
Climate Physics , incorporating the Mullard Space Science
Laboratory ( MSSL ). Today the Laboratory is the largest university space science establishment in the UK , with a grade 5 rating in the National Research Assessment Exercise. MSSL possesses a world-wide reputation for high quality space research in a range of scientific disciplines, spanning astrophysics, planetary sciences, solar physics, space plasmas and more. The synergy between scientists and engineers working together in the same establishment is outstandingly successful in leading to develop instrumentation that perfectly matches the needs and requirements of the scientific research that is MSSL’s mission.
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Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge – it counts 28
Nobel Prizes among former academics and graduates
✦ In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise rated the
UCL best research university in London was for the amount of research considered of ‘world-leadingquality’
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UCL has almost 27,000 students and more than 4,000 academic and research staff, including 920 professors
(200 female, the joint highest number in the UK)
✦ UCL is ranked 4 th of the world’s top universities and
2 nd only to Cambridge in the UK, by the QS World
University Rankings (2013-14)

An essential part of the UCL Department of Space and Climate Physic s mission is to provide high quality teaching and research project opportunities to develop the core skills of the space scientists and engineers of the 21 st century : we achieve this by realising an effective knowledge transfer of MSSL’s worldwide recognised technology and science base, and by combining it with the outstanding expertise in communications engineering offered by the UCL
Department of Electronic and Electrical
Engineering . This is one of the leading research-led departments in its subject area worldwide, and conducts pioneering work into novel systems and applications; this is reflected in the innovative content of its teaching, which also builds on long-established links with industry.
From the collaboration of the two Departments stems the MSc Programme in ‘Space Science and
Engineering’ . The taught element is delivered by internationally known scientists that provide state-ofthe-art technology and science content to the lectures.
A large part of the Programme is project-based , for which Master’s students work alongside top engineers building and testing instruments for space. The close contact that MSSL enjoys with space agencies such as
ESA and NASA and with industrial research teams encourages the development of transferable skills, such as project management, which enhance job prospects after gaining a Master’s degree, both in academic and industrial circles, and beyond. Recent successful graduates from the Programme have gone on to further degrees in Higher Education and then academic research, or have built successful engineering careers in the aerospace industry world-wide; others have entered a variety of professional occupations within multi-national organisations, or as IT and financial consultants and analysts with international banks and even the London and New York Stock Exchanges!
More details of this exciting and forward-looking
MSc Programme can be found at www.ucl.ac.uk/mssl/taught-programme/msc-space-sci-eng and by contacting
Ms Katrina Walker, MSc Administrator
Department of Space and Climate Physics, UCL
Gower Street, LONDON WC1E 6BT
Telephone +44 (0)20 7679 4909
Fax +44 (0)20 7679 4911
Email edu@mssl.ucl.ac.uk
The MSc Programme in ‘Space Science and
Engineering’ incorporates two pathways: ‘Space
Technology’ (ST) and ‘Space Science’ (SS).
The ST pathway is focussed on the application of space technology in industrial settings, and therefore has as its main objective:
To provide a sound knowledge of the underlying principles which form a thorough basis for careers in space technology, satellite communications and related fields.
The SS pathway is focussed on scientific research applications of space technology; it aims:
To equip participants with a sound knowledge of the physical principles essential to sustain careers in space research and related fields.
The two pathways in the MSc Programme share a number of common aims and objectives :
To develop insights into the techniques used in current space missions.
To give in-depth experience of a particular specialised area, through project work, as a member of a research team.
To give experience of project team work, and to develop valuable skills such as reportwriting and presentation skills, and working to deadlines.
To develop professional skills for the industrial or academic working life and train postgraduates who will be able to respond to the challenges that arise from future developments in this space era.
The two pathways share a great deal, but there are important differences, especially in the Advanced
Module options structure. Every student carries out an Individual Project over a period of about 9 months, and then all students work together as a team at the Group Project , over 6 weeks during the summer, culminating with a Project Design Review by a Panel of academics and aerospace professionals.
Core Modules common to both pathways are
‘ Space Science, Environment and Satellite
Mission s’ and ‘ Space Systems Engineering ’.
Advanced Modules taken by the Space Science students include ‘ Solar Physics ’, ‘ Planetary
Atmospheres ’, ‘ High Energy Astrophysics ’, two
Remote Sensing options and ‘ Space Plasma and
Magnetospheric Physics ’. These last three are also available to Space Technology students, as well as ‘ Space-based Communication Systems ’,
‘ Spacecraft Design – Electronic and Mechanical ’,
‘ Antennas and Propagation ’, ‘ Radar Systems ’.