How to apply

Deadlines

The selection timeline is the following:

Information Sessions and Consultation Options

It is highly encouraged to all prospective applicants—especially first-time participants or those unsure about how to begin—to take advantage of the dedicated information sessions and consultation services offered throughout the Call period.

Two online Information Sessions are held to provide an overview of the REXUS/BEXUS programme, explain the proposal process in detail, and offer guidance on how to strengthen your submission:

• 22 July 2025, 16:00–17:30 CEST
• 9 September 2025, 16:00–17:30 CEST

If you are interested in attending one of the two sessions, please register here.

These sessions offer a valuable opportunity to gain insight into the programme’s phases and expectations, as well as to ask questions directly to the organising team. Attendance is strongly recommended.

In addition, students and student teams are welcome to request individual consultation throughout the Call period. The REXUS/BEXUS Team at the ESA Education Office is available to provide feedback, clarify requirements, and assist with any uncertainties regarding the application process. Early contact is highly encouraged and will not impact the outcome of the selection.

To book a consultation or submit questions, please email us at: rexus-bexus@esa.int

Experiment Idea

When developing your experiment proposal, start by defining a clear and achievable concept. Discuss ideas within your team and explore relevant scientific literature to understand how similar challenges have been addressed in previous research.

Above all, remember the REXUS/BEXUS motto: “Keep it simple.”

The programme encourages well-thought-out and realistic concepts over complexity. Experiments do not need to be technically advanced or perfect. Simple ideas that are feasible, safe, and educationally valuable are strongly welcomed – particularly from teams with limited or no previous experience. REXUS/BEXUS is a hands-on learning opportunity.

Selected teams are responsible for the entire development of their experiment, from conception to launch. The scientific scope and technical complexity of your proposal should be aligned with the team’s skills and resources.

First-time participants are warmly encouraged to apply. The programme is designed as a stepping stone for students into space-related research and development—so focus on a clear objective, a solid methodology, and a realistic plan.

Submit your Experiment Proposal

Step by step 

The following steps describe what is needed to apply for the REXUS/BEXUS programme: 

• Form a team fulfilling the conditions for participation (see section below).
• Download the REXUS and/or BEXUS user manual from the List of documents page and read it to understand what is possible within the constraints of the launch vehicle.
• Define your project, discuss it with the rest of the team and try to find references in the scientific literature to similar or related research projects. Remember the REXUS/BEXUS motto: “Keep it simple.”
• Identify an endorsing professor or academic supervisor whose role will be to supervise the work of your team.
• Attend the Information Sessions to gain a clear overview of the programme, the selection process, and what makes a strong proposal.
• Consult the ESA Education team by contacting rexus-bexus@esa.int for guidance on team eligibility, technical feasibility, or any questions related to your proposal or the application process. All queries are welcome—early contact is encouraged and does not impact the selection outcome.
• Find additional support like institutes, senior scientists and sponsors. You will probably need to use laboratories and specialised tools during the development and testing phases and you will almost certainly need advice when unforeseen problems arise.
• Consider how much the project will cost and how you will raise the funds for materials, testing facilities and travel of any unsponsored team members.
• Download the Word format of the Experiment Proposal Form and fill it in.
• Ask your endorsing professor or academic supervisor for a formal Letter of Endorsement in which they pledge support to all the team members and the proposed project.
• Make sure all team members are enrolled to the training activity “REXUS/BEXUS - Submit Your Proposal” on the ESA E-Learning Platform.
• The team leader shall upload the completed Experiment Proposal Form and the Letter of Endorsement as assignment in the “REXUS/BEXUS - Submit Your Proposal”.

Please note that the ESA E-learning platform is a new development. If you encounter any bug or issues, do not hesitate to contact us on rexus-bexus@esa.int.

I am studying in Germany – How should I apply? 

As the programme is partly funded by DLR (the German Aerospace Centre), there is a different application process for students studying in Germany. Full details can be found on the REXUS/BEXUS webpage. 

Selection Process

The purpose of the ESA Education Office is to build competency across all ESA Member States and Associate Member States. For this, student teams from eligible countries or universities that have not yet participated in ESA Education Office programmes, are strongly encouraged to apply.

All received experiment proposals are assessed by a panel of experts. Short-listed experiments will then be invited to participate in a selection workshop at ESTEC where a final selection is made.

Experiment proposals are marked based on the following criteria:

For the final selection of experiments, also the accommodation of experiments on the chosen flight vehicles are taken into account. Possible interferences between proposed experiments and available power, volume and mass budgets are considered as well.

If two proposals are of equal quality, priority will be given to teams that have not yet participated in any ESA Education programmes.

The REXUS/BEXUS programme is realised under a bilateral Agency Agreement between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA). 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).  Preference is generally given to new participants, however Swedish experiments are evaluated without consideration of the previous participation of Swedish teams or universities.

Conditions for participation

Team composition 

The REXUS/BEXUS programme is open to teams from universities of an eligible state. 

The core team shall be composed of at least four students who are all eligible for sponsorship. There is no limit to the maximum number of student team members. 

Student teams may include a limited number of students who are not eligible for sponsorship. Those students may be able to attend programme events under their own funding, as long as the minimum team requirements are also met. 

It is recommended to include in the team people from different disciplines to ensure that has a good range of skills addressing the many different tasks involved. For example:

• A project manager to oversee the project time, technical and financial management.
• A scientist to define the parameters of the experiment and interpret the measurements.
• A mechanical engineer to design and build the structure.
• An electronics engineer to design and manufacture the circuit boards.
• A software engineer to program the commands and data storage.
• Someone with good communication skills to develop and execute a successful outreach programme.

ESA is committed to achieving diversity and creating an inclusive professional environment. To this end, we welcome applications from all eligible students irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, beliefs, age, disability or other characteristics. ESA Education strongly encourages inclusiveness within its programmes.

Endorsing professor(s) and letter(s) of endorsement 

Student teams must show that the project has the support of their universities through a letter of endorsement from a professor or academic supervisor in which they pledge their support to all the team members and the proposed project. More specifically, the endorsing professor(s) should clearly state that they support the students’ application and that they accept responsibility for their REXUS/BEXUS experiment.  

The endorsing professor must belong to the same educational institution as the team members. If the team contains members from different educational institutions, an endorsing professor of each institution is required and additional letter(s) of endorsement can be submitted. It shall then be clarified in the proposal form which educational institution is the main responsible and contact point for ESA.

The endorsing professor’s roles and responsibilities include but are not limited to: 

• Provide student teams with assistance in accessing and navigating university policies, and processes; 
• Assist student teams with accessing resources such as laboratory space, and equipment; 
• Endorse the entire application, and development process of the team; 
• Bear responsibility for the experiment. 

If a student team is selected to participate in the REXUS/BEXUS programme, the endorsing professor or academic supervisor will have to complete and sign an acceptance letter.

REXUS/BEXUS Code of Conduct 

All participants are subject to the REXUS/BEXUS Code of Conduct.

Personal Data Protection

As part of their participation in the programme REXUS/BEXUS teams must provide ESA with certain personal data. Which data is collected, the purposes it is used for, to whom it may be disclosed, and how long it’s kept for are all covered in the ESA Education Privacy Notice, which should always be available on the ESA Education webpages. 

Please note that the information detailed above may be subject to change without prior notice.