Offered by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, PSSS is a career development experience with a workload of a rigorous 3-hour graduate-level course. Learn the development of a hypothesis-driven planetary science robotic mission in a concurrent engineering environment while getting an in-depth, first-hand look at mission design, life cycle, costs, schedule & the trade-offs inherent in each.

WHO CAN APPLY: Science & engineering doctoral candidates, recent PhDs, postdocs, & junior faculty who are U.S. Citizens or legal permanent residents (and a very limited number of Foreign Nationals from non-designated counties) are eligible.

Participants will spend 10-11 weeks in preparatory webinars acting as a science mission team. Then their final culminating week is mentored by JPL’s Advance Project Design Team to refine their mission concept design & present it to a mock expert review board. The culminating week is typically at JPL. However, in 2021, it is likely to be virtual due to Covid-19 precautions.