1. TEXUS/BEXUS ALUMNI – LOOKING AT THE LONG- TERM PERSONAL BENEFITS OF PARTICIPATION IN A PRACTICAL STUDENT PROGRAMME Mark Fittock (DLR) Martin Siegl (DLR), Andreas Stamminger (DLR), Maria Roth (DLR), Jutta Hübner (ESA), Helen Page (ESA), Adam Lambert (ESA), Mark Uitendaal (SSC), Olle Persson (SSC) REXUS/BEXUS

2. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net REXUS/BEXUS Student experiments 2 rockets (Spring), 2 balloons (Autumn) 1 or 1.5 years Management, engineering, science Expert support, training, financing In a nutshell

3. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net The Scope of Students’ Work Selection Workshop Training Week Design Reviews Build-up and Testing Launch campaign Analysis What the students have to survive

4. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net The Education Environment Augmented learning environment Focus on open learning Supported by traditional methods No pain, no gain

5. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net The Why and the How Looking back means we can look forward –Evaluate our educational benefit and improve Conducted a survey of previous students from the last 3 cycles –84 responses to date

6. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net Negative effects on study? 61.8 % percent not part of any course module Degree completion: –51.3 % still studying –48.7 % completed –0 % don’t intend to complete Delay in completion due to participation 39.5 % Yes, 60.5 % No

7. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net The Added Educational Value Learning for later study/career high med low

8. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net The Practical and the Supplementary Skills some major none

9. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net Was the Experience Relevant to their Future Activities? Mean response: highly relevant Corresponds to the responses to relevance of learning methods

10. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net What about Space? Increased interest in pursuing a space-related career? –76.7 % more likely –37.0% of total much more Was this interest followed up? –63.6 % of the “employeds” in a space related field Will the alumni join the space community?

11. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net REXUS/BEXUS as a reference Online Presence –Measured as a return of relevant results: “rexus bexus” on google.de, percent relevant from 1 st page –Returns 700,000 to 1,000,000 relevant results Context: avg 93% of the relevant results for “dlr” Very rough measure of online presence Who knows about this programme?

12. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net What did that all just mean? Many of the effects are still unknown Correlation may show further links between different aspects of the experience Alumni have significant boosts in relevant skills for future study and career We still have room for improvement

13. This investigation was carried out as a part of the REXUS/BEXUS programme. The REXUS/BEXUS programme is realised under a bilateral Agency Agreement between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB). The Swedish share of the payload has been made available to students from other European countries through a collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). EuroLaunch, a cooperation between the Esrange Space Center of the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and the Mobile Rocket Base (MORABA) of DLR, is responsible for the campaign management and operations of the launch vehicles. Experts from DLR, SSC and ESA provide technical support to the student teams throughout the project. ROCKETS & BALLOONS www.rexusbexus.net www.rexusbexus.net Thanks for listening! Any questions?