Balloon-borne EXperiments for University Students

The BEXUS programme allows students from universities and higher education colleges across Europe to carry out scientific and technological experiments on stratospheric research balloons. Each year, two balloons are launched, carrying up to 20 experiments designed and built by student teams.

The basic idea behind BEXUS is to provide an experimental space platform for students in the field of aerospace technology. "Besides additional study motivation, the students also gain experience in scientific experimental probe design, project team work and management which are important knowledge for their future careers"

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 ESA, SSC and DLR provide technical support to the student teams throughout the project.

BEXUS are launched from SSC, Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden.

This overview provides the technical basis to write a proposal for a BEXUS experiment.

The BEXUS User Manual provides details on the aspects of the BEXUS balloon that are relevant to experiment teams. It should be used by selected student teams to support the design and development of their experiments.