Stardust, which began in February 2013, was a four-year research and training program looking into ways of removing

space debris Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage) are defunct human-made objects in space—principally in Earth orbit—which no longer serve a useful function. These include derelict spacecr ...

(such as fragments of defunct satellites which risk damaging functioning satellites if they collide with them), and ways to deflect asteroids which could have devastating consequences if they crash into the Earth. Stardust was a European programme funded by the FP7 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions ( MSCA) Initial Training Networks (ITN) scheme. The network is composed of ten full partners and four associated partner institutions across seven European countries. There were five universities –

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

(UK),

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

(UK),

Technical University of Madrid The Technical University of Madrid or sometimes called Polytechnic University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) is a public university, located in Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1971 as the result of merging different Te ...

(Spain),

University of Rome Tor Vergata Tor Vergata University of Rome, also known as the University of Rome II ( it, Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata"), is a public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. Located in the southeastern suburb of Rome, the ...

(Italy),

University of Pisa The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe. History The Origins The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...

(Italy), and the Astronomical Observatory Belgrade (Serbia), four research centres –

German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (German: ''Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz'', DFKI) is one of the world's largest nonprofit contract research institutes for software technology based on artificial in ...

(DFKI),

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche The National Research Council (Italian: ''Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR'') is the largest research council in Italy. As a public organisation, its remit is to support scientific and technological research. Its headquarters are in Rome. ...

Italiano (CNR),

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

(CNRS) and the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

(ESA), and four companies – Deimos Space (Spain), Dinamica (Italy),

Astrium Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18 ...

Ltd (UK) and

Telespazio Telespazio Spa is a European spaceflight services company founded in 1961. It is a joint venture owned by Leonardo (67%) and Thales Group (33%) headquartered in Rome. Telespazio provides services that include the design and development of space s ...

S.p.A. (Italy). A further 11 early career researchers and 4 post-doctorate researchers were hired and received specialised training. The Stardust Final Conference on Asteroids and Space Debris was held at the end of October 2016 at the

premises. Stardust completed its four-year remit of research and development activities in early 2017. During that period, the network was awarded the Sir Arthur Clarke award for space research in 2015, was featured at the IAC2016 in Guadalajara, and is supporting th
Space Mission Planning Advisory Group
of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

on matters related to planetary defense. Answering to another call for an H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018 proposal, a new Stardust-R research programme was created which aims at training, by research, a new generation of scientists and engineers who can develop enabling technologies and effective solutions to critical problems in planetary defence, minor body exploration and the sustainable use of space.

References

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External links

DFKI Stardust project webpageSouthampton University Stardust project webpageStardust project Twitter pageStardust-R project website
College and university associations and consortia in Europe Engineering university associations and consortia Space science