For master students

As a master student you can get involved in real space missions, analyse data from spacecrafts, and design your own instruments. We offer you workshops, summer schools, international student exchange, and specialised courses. 

For students at master level we offer the following projectssummer schools, courses, and exchange/joined thesis programs:


PROJECTS


G-Chaser (Master Projects)

This is a unique opportunity to have your own master project on a NASA rocket!!! 

We are recruiting two talented and highly motivated bachelor students to do a rocket thesis. You will take part in all aspects of a rocket mission; from building and preparing a scientific instrument, through testing and intergration of the instrument on the rocket, to the actual launch and post flight data analysis. The G-Chaser student rocket will be launced from Andøya Space Center in January 2019 as part of the Grand Challenge Initiative (GCI). For more information on the GCI and the G-Chaser student rocket visit: http://www.grandchallenge.no

More information on how to apply here.


Master thesis

Master projects within 4DSpace are directly linked to our ongoing activities. These include space instrumentation, sensor development, electronics, data analysis, and numerical modeling. You can get involved and contribute to ongoing space missions.

Some examples of master thesis are given here.


WORKSHOPS AND SUMMER SCHOOLS


Space Weather Summer School (Japan, Norway, USA)

This school is organised every summer for students on master and bachelor levels, and it is a MUST for those who are seriously considering becoming experts in data analysis of space weather phenomena and doing in future their thesis on those topics. Space weather describes the space environment between the sun and Earth and has impact on the Earth's near space. One of the space weather events are the northern lights, but there is much more than that: space weather can influence our technology on the Earth and in space. The teachers and students are from USA, Japan and Norway. The school is organised in one of these three countries. 

You can read more about the school and how to apply here.


4DSpace Numerical Workshop (Japan, Norway)

Twice a year we organise workshops for students interested in space simulations. The workshops are joint intensive study programs where students will learn different aspects of numerical simulations with particle-in-cell codes, running experiments on supercomputers, and basics of space science. You can see photos from previous workshops here.


ASTRA Arctic Space TRAining (Russia, Norway)

The educational Arctic Space TRAining (ASTRA) platform offers a research-based student training in space science, focusing on the Norwegian and Russian Arctic regions.  It provides hands-on education with various research facilities and instruments across the border including satellites, rockets, and ground-based instruments (magnetometer networks, EISCAT, SuperDARN, and optical instruments for the studies of the northern lights).  We organise summer and winter schools in Russia and Norway, offer scholarships for student mobility, and joined thesis supervision. You can find more information on how to apply here.


Space Mission Instrumentation and Engineering Workshop (Canada, Norway)

This workshop is a part of Norway-Canada Space Mission Training Program. In this school you will learn a lot about scientific instrumentation of space platforms, in particular about sounding rockets or satellite missions. The workshop will be held in fall 2017, and more information can be found here.

 


Norway-Canada Space Mission Training Program (Canada, Norway)

This workshop is a part of Norway-Canada Space Mission Training Program. In this school you will learn various aspects of scientific modeling of space platforms, and how to utilise numerical modeling for space missions. The workshop will be held in 2019, and more informantion can be found here.

 


Ionospheric Data Science workshops (Russia, Norway)

 Through collaboration with the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences we will organise ionospheric data workshop in Moscow in 2016 and on Svalbard in 2017. This is a unique opportunity to get involved into working with the ionospheric data and the ongoing research at the groups. At the same time you can get familiar with the Russian research activities, and space research programme and visit various facilities. The project is open for both Master and PhD students. For more information see here. 


COURSES AT UIO AND AT UNIS (SVALBARD)


FYS4620 - Plasma Physics (10 ECTS)

Every fall semester you can take the course Introduction to Plasma Physics. The course is concerned with the plasma theory, waves and stability. By the word "plasma" we understand a mixture of free ions and electrons, or charged particle in general. It turns out that about 99 % of the universe is in the plasma state, implying that understanding of the this so called "fourth state of matter" is of fundamental importance, in particular for space science. Read more on the course website

 


FYS4610 - Magnetospheric Processes (10 ECTS)

In spring semester you can take the course on Magnetospheric Processes. It gives a solid background in physics of the interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere and upper atmosphere system, with emphasis on electrodynamic coupling processes in the active plasma regimes where the aurora borealis is located.  Read more on the course website


FYS4630 - Transport of radiation in the atmosphere (10 ECTS)

Every fall semester you can take the course on radiation transfer in the atmosphere​​​​​​. The course will provide you a necessary background for understanding radiative transfer, scattering, absorption and emission of electromagnetic radiation in atmospheres, providing basis for working with such problems as the Earth atmosphere, but also planetary atmospheres 

 Read more on the course website


AGF301 The Upper Polar Atmosphere (15 ECTS)

As a master student you can spend one semester or more on Svalbard! While being in this exotic place on the top of the world, you can study the space physics at UNIS. On Svalbard we have access to unique infrastructure for space research, including auroral observatory, EISCAT and SuperDARN radars.

The course AGF301 is given in the spring semester, and focuses on the interactions between the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetosphere and the consequences of these processes for the ionosphere. Data from instrumentation at the Kjell Henriksen Observatory together with data from other ground-based instruments at different locations as well as satellite data will be used to analyse auroral emissions and current systems in order to understand how solar wind energy interacts with the upper polar atmosphere.

Remember to apply well in advance, and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Read more on the course website.


AGF304 Radar Diagnostics of Space Plasma  (15 ECTS)

As a master student you can spend one semester or more on Svalbard! While being in this exotic place on the top of the world, you can study the space physics at UNIS. On Svalbard we have access to unique infrastructure for space research, including auroral observatory, EISCAT and SuperDARN radars.

The course AGF304 is given in the spring semester, and covers essentials for the ionospheric HF sounding techniques and radar design. You will learn the principles and theory behind such advanced studies, and will also design their own radar experiment to collect the data. During the fieldwork you will run the real radar! 

Remember to apply well in advance, and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Read more on the course website.


AGF345 Polar Magnetospheric Substorms  (10 ECTS)

As a master student you can spend part of your studies on Svalbard! While being in this exotic place on the top of the world, you can study the space physics at UNIS. On Svalbard we have access to unique infrastructure for space research, including auroral observatory, EISCAT and SuperDARN radars.

The course AGF345 is given in the fall semester. It is an intensive course run over one month. This course gives an overview of polar magnetospheric substorms, the primary process responsible for large-scale auroral breakups. On the ground, this is typically manifested in the form of intense aurora. The course consists of a combination of lectures, exercises, fieldwork and project work.

Remember to apply well in advance, and do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Read more on the course website.


Satellite Systems and Space Instrumentation (10/15 ECTS)

We are planning to start a new course at UNIS that will combine space physics and technology. The course is foreseen to start in summer 2018. There will be active experiments and a mission design. Stay tuned for more details.

 

 

 


EXCHANGE AND JOINED THESIS


CaNoRock - Student exchange with Canada 

As master students you have the opportunity to study abroad. We encourage you to travel to Canada to one of the following universities: University of Calgary, University of Alberta, or University of Saskatchewan - with these universities we have a special agreement and courses are pre-approved, which means that you do not need to worry about getting them approved when you come back. With Canada we have close collaboration within research and education in space science and while being there you will be able to work on your space science master project under joined supervision!

Do not forget to apply for the study exchange if you wish to take courses! The deadlines are usually 15 February for the travel in fall semester and 15 September for the spring semester. 

Do not hesitate to contact us for more details.

Read more on the CaNoRock student exchange website.

and also at the project website:

Norway-Canada Space Mission Training Program


Japan-Norway partnership - Student exchange with Japan 

As master students you have the opportunity to do part of your thesis abroad. If you are a student interested in computational science, you can do your thesis in numerical modeling of space plasmas in collaboration with the Kobe University in Japan. Being supervised by both Japanese and Norwegian supervisors, you can spend up to several months in Japan while working on your thesis. This is a unique opportunity to write co-toutelle thesis, meaning that the studies are carried out at two universities. 

Maybe you will also learn Japanese?!

 


Russia-Norway partnership - Student exchange with Russia 

As master students you have the opportunity to do part of your thesis abroad. The exchange program with Russia focuses on the analysis of ionospheric data in the context of ionospheric plasma turbulence, instabilities, but also space weather effects. You have a opportunity to work on your thesis with scientists from the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, and work on your thesis in the place where many great space missions were born. Maybe you will also meet some astronauts and cosmonauts who are training in the "Space City" nearby?

 

Other opportunities

Many other student possibilities are available both in Norway and abroad. Under this link we provide an overview of various education programs.

Published Feb. 1, 2017 9:05 PM - Last modified Feb. 20, 2024 5:54 PM