Spacecraft has evolved into an invaluable tool for our society through applications within areas such as environmental monitoring, metrology, communication and navigation. To exploit space to its fullest, spacecraft must be optimally designed, constructed and utilized, requiring the knowledge for several engineering fields.

Our master programme in Satellite Engineering is applicable for students with interest in learning, developing and applying state-of-the-art technology for space-related purposes. This type of technology has also large similarities with technologies for other extreme environments, such as in arctic regions and subsea, and students with interest in development of technologies in such fields will also find this programme as relevant.

The purpose of the master programme in Satellite Engineering is to educate students of high quality, with a collection of courses which are considered relevant for a large variation of companies. NUC is the only university college in Norway which offers master education within Satellite Engineering, and the programme is therefore unique. However, the course portfolio is designed to provide competence within related fileds of technology, such as electronics, automatic control, communication and defence-related technology.

Graduated candidates are primarily qualified to perform advanced development of scientific equipment for environmental monitoring and space exploration, or equipment for space-related services with application on ground. Examples are advanced electromechanical systems, communication systems, and software-based products for interpretation of information from space- or ground-based measurement systems. Graduated students are able to work within development of   

• Navigation, guidance and control equipment for electromechanical systems, such as rockets, radar antennas and various vehicles
• Communications systems for ground-to-spacecraft or spacecraft-to-spacecraft communications
• Space-borne systems, such as satellites and space probes
• Software for advanced signal analysis, in applicationfor i.e. environmental monitoring

The Satellite Engineering programme opens up for several interesting and exiting opportunities. Graduated students in Satellite Engineering are very attractive for both Norwegian and international space industry, in addition to large technology-oriented companies in related fields. Previous students are today working in companies such as Andøya Rocket Range, Kongsberg Satellite Services and Kongsberg Spacetec in Tromsø, Kongsberg Defence Systems in Kongsberg, Kongsberg Seatex in Trondheim, Norspace in Horten, Nammo Raufoss, Telenor Satellite Services and the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment in Oslo, among others. Resposibillities varies within administration and project management, design and development of new technologies within eklectronics and automatic control, analysis and maintenance of technical systems, education and research.

Some graduates also choose to go abroad after the Satellite Engineering study, for instance to European Space Agency (ESA) in Holland and the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg. Some graduates have also pursued PhD studies at NUC.

The Satellite Engineering programme has a very good reputation for graduating high quality students, and we have received much positive feedback from companies on our graduates.  

The master programme in Satellite Engineering at Narvik University College provides a unique education in Norway, where you as a student will learn about the most relevant technologies necessary for design, construction and utilization of satellites as spaceborne platforms for various purposes. Through the two-year programme, important theoretical preliminaries such as applied mathematics, communication, digital system and signal theory, realtime systems, microprocessor-technologies, navigation and  automatic control are covered, as well as more specialized topics on rocket dynamics, spacecraft propulsion, guidance and control.

Through a multidisciplinary programme, students learn the relevant methods and skills in various technological fields, with a commonality through its application in space-related systems. The programme involves lectured courses, as well as a high degree of problem-based education (i.e. learning-by-doing), where the students spend their time working on relevant projects under supervision of a highly qualified staff. The project topics are chosen from current and future national and international space projects which NUC participates in, as well as ongoing internal research projects. Therefore, several projects has ended in results at a high international level, published in international scientific journals. The students have also been able to present there results for an international audience at scientific conferences. In the last few years, such projects have included:

• Attitude determination and control system design for the European Student Earth Orbiter (ESEO) and European Student Moon Orbiter (ESMO) spacecraft under the SSETI-project (http://www.sseti.net/) initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA).
• Development of an Aerosol detector rocket payload for collection of ionized dust particles, under the ESPRIT project (http://spirit.ee.psu.edu/spiritiii/home.html) initiated by NASA.
• Ground station and electric power supply development in the Norwegian student satellite projects NCube 1 and NCube 2.
• Design, implementation and testing of all subsystems (ground station, power supply, data handling, control, communication and payload) in NUCs own spacecraft HiNCube (http://hincube.hin.no/).
• Mathematical modelling, synchronization and coordinated control of small spacecraft in formation, in cooperation with internal PhD-students and supervisors.

To provide a high-quality education with relevance to industry, NUC is cooperating with the national universities in Oslo (UIO), Bergen (UIB), Tromsø (UIT) and Trondheim (NTNU), as well as ESA, Norwegian Space Centre and the Norwegian Centre for Space-related Education (NAROM).

It is important to be aware that the Satellite Engineering programme aims at providing a solid theoretical education to the students, enabling them to acquire new knowledge and improved competence at a later stage through self-directed studies. The programme is therefore a good starting point for further studies within the field, and a career within space-related research. Graduated candidates may pursue a PhD study at NUC, in collaboration with national institutions such as the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, or the University of Tromsø. We have also a large international collaboration with institutions in France, USA and Germany, where you can follow lectured courses or research educational programmes.

Through the master programme in Satellite Engineering, you will learn relevant technologies within communication between spacecraft and ground stations, operational elements in spacecraft systems, as well as navigation, guidance and control of rockets and spacecraft. Central courses in the programme are digital signal analysis, satellite communications, computer technologies, satellite design, control theory, rocket navigation, spacecraft mechanisms and spacecraft control.

To be applicable for the master programme in Satellite Engineering, you must have a bachelor in engineering, primarily within electronics or space technology, but it may also be within related fields such as automatic control, communications, power electronics or computer science. There is also a requirement of 30 points with preliminaries in mathematics/statistics, equivalent to the Norwegian courses Mathematics 1, 2, and 3, as well as Statistics.