2023 NASA Astrophysics Mission Design School

Apply now for the new Astrophysics Mission Design School (AMDS), a three-month-long career development experience to learn the development of a hypothesis-driven robotic space mission in a concurrent engineering environment. Get an in-depth, first-hand look at mission design, life cycle, costs, schedule, and inherent trade-offs. AMDS is led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with Goddard Space Flight Center.

Science and engineering doctoral candidates, recent PhDs, postdocs, and junior faculty who are US citizens or legal permanent residents (and a limited number of foreign nationals from non-designated counties) are eligible. Applicants from diverse backgrounds are particularly encouraged — we highly value diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Dates: 30 January – 4 April 2023

AMDS has a workload equivalent to a rigorous three-credit graduate-level course. Participants act as an astrophysics mission team in the first 10 weeks of preparatory webinars. In the final week, participants are mentored by JPL’s Advanced Project Design Team — "Team X" — to refine the mission concept design and present it to a mock expert review board. The culminating week is typically at JPL but could be virtual due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic conditions.

Register for the informational session to be held 27 July at 3:00 pm ET.

AMDS applications are due 28 September.