Space Sciences
See your ideas launch into space!
The Carthage Space Sciences Program develops payload experiments for NASA and commercial partners. Students design, build, and fly the experiments on commercial parabolic and suborbital flights. Our research straddles the boundary between physics and engineering and supports investigations into the properties of fluids in the microgravity environment of space.
We recruit students from physics and computer science programs, but no particular major is required. Students at all levels participate in this program, from high school students to seniors in college. Successful teams typically have students with strengths in one or more of the following areas: software design/programming, hardware, CAD, electronics, physics, and math.
See the 4-year plan for space science students
“I was really attracted to Carthage because of the amazing STEM program they have and their close relationship with NASA.”
“I had the opportunity to accompany one of the experiments I worked on with the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium to Texas to see it launched on a Blue Origin New Shephard rocket!”
“I chose Carthage because of its excellent Space Sciences Program and the generous scholarships the College offered me.”
Team up with NASA
Students pursuing space science studies at Carthage have the extraordinary opportunity to work with NASA. The College collaborates on research with the NASA Johnson Space Center and the NASA Flight Opportunities Program Universal Payload Interface Challenge (UPIC).
Test your experiments on zero-gravity flights
We perform our experiments while falling out of the sky on a parabolic aircraft as it plunges toward earth, creating momentary periods of weightlessness for the researchers and their experiments. We also send our research into space on commercial suborbital rockets and even spacecraft headed for the moon!
Participate in aerospace research
Students learn and implement aerospace industry practices in project management and systems engineering, while honing scientific research skills. We work with external stakeholders like NASA, Airbus, Intuitive Machines, and others. Every project in our space sciences lab is externally funded and requires students to work directly with sponsors, manage budget, inventory, procurement, participate in and lead design reviews, design testing and verification procedures, and analyze data.
We develop and use technical skills like CAD, software design, embedded systems, thermal modeling, computational fluid dynamics, finite element analysis, and multiphysics modeling. Our students are broadly prepared to work in industry or continue to perform research in graduate school.
space sciences Career Paths
Students in the Space Sciences Program gain unique experiences, valuable skills, and important connections — making them stand out when applying to graduate school and to jobs after college. Alumni from the program work across the aerospace industry and all over NASA.
Our Partners
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- Georgia Institute of Technology Low Gravity Lab: Collaboration in acoustic bubble control in microgravity
- NASA T2U Program: Technology entrepreneurship program using NASA patent portfolio
- Space for Teachers: Parabolic flight research program for teachers
- Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium: NASA’s space grant program
Interested in Carthage’s Space Sciences Program?
Students with a passion for and an interest in aerospace and space technology are encouraged to fill out an information request form and specify space sciences as an area of study.