For more than a half-century, Space Exploration has been an inspirational force in our society toward the development and application of science and engineering. Space Teams Academy gives students an incredible opportunity to participate virtually in space exploration.

Western Sydney University will select 32 young space adventurers to form teams and compete in Space Teams Academy, a virtual mission training program that will challenge the participant’s teamwork, problem solving, resource management, and system balancing skills while granting them access to lessons and lectures from academic and experienced leaders.

From the 19th to the 23rd of August eight teams will represent WSU and complete this virtual space mission as part of an WSU mission team to design spacecraft, learn basics of interplanetary navigation, land their vehicles on an exoplanet, build a sustainable habitat in a hostile environment, and explore the strange exoplanet as a team to locate resources critical to sustaining human life for the duration of their mission.

Students will have lessons from subject matter experts including astronauts, scientists and engineers who are directly involved in ongoing missions. These topics range from planetary science to spacecraft systems, orbital mechanics to robotic exploration.

The selected WSU young astronauts will have an additional audience with Professor Gregory Chamitoff, former astronaut and lead designer for SpaceTeams where they can ask questions, learn from his firsthand experiences aboard the ISS to further fuel their passion and curiosity for space exploration.

If you wish to find out more about the Space Teams Academy please click here.

Apply to be a team member to represent WSU in the Space Teams Academy. The university is looking for 32 young space adventurers who are up to the challenge!

To be eligible to enter, participants must be a New South Wales school student enrolled in an education institution or home schooling for Year 7 or Year 8.

Mission team members are required to attend WSU Kingswood campus for 5 days from the 19th to the 23rd of August, 2024 (8:30am – 4pm).

Each application will need:

All entries will be judged on creativity and originality. The work should be solely of the entrant.

All entries remain the property of One Giant Leap Australia and may be used for promotional and media purposes.

All submissions must be original work. Entries containing plagiarized or copyright material/music will be disqualified.

Entries that are longer than 2 minutes may be disqualified.

Each student may only submit one entry.

All communication will be conducted between One Giant Leap Australia and the student’s parents/guardians.