Where future
space scholars meet.
An international academic programme for secondary schools, delivered through one authorized partner institution in each member country or region.
2027 theme · Galileo — humanity’s first city under the ice of Europa. →
A global platform for
future space scholars.
An international academic programme built on a simulated aerospace-industry bidding process. Students respond to a formal Request for Proposal, design a space settlement, assemble an engineering and commercial case, and defend their work in English.
GFSSM was jointly initiated in 2018 by the Space Foundation (USA), the National Space Academy (UK) and ITCCC Innovative Education (China). The 2027 cycle is its tenth edition. It connects member countries and regions worldwide, with one partner institution in each.
Students do not simply imagine a future city. They translate client requirements into drawings, quantified models, process diagrams, risk controls and a coherent construction and financial plan — and then defend those decisions before experts.
From low Earth orbit
A cooperation certificate between the UK’s National Space Academy and ITCCC Innovative Education was carried to the International Space Station and displayed there by cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin.
“One Earth. One humanity.
Education brings us together.”
International aerospace non-profit advancing space education and industry engagement.
Space-science education, curricula and teacher development.
Co-initiator and programme operator, coordinating international collaboration and delivery.
Three ways
into GFSSM.
The programme is the same for everyone; what you need first depends on who you are. Pick your door and the site follows that line.
National or regional organizer
You want to hold the mandate, brief schools, run a selection and send a delegation to Beijing — with or without the online round. Start with the role, the authorization and the pack.
Read For Organizers → 02 · SchoolTeacher or coordinator
You want to enter a team. You need the rules, the deliverables, the calendar and what the 2027 brief actually asks for.
Read the 2027 rules → 03 · StudentStudent or parent
You want to know what the week in Beijing is like before you commit to it: the companies, the challenge, the defence.
See the experience →Five days. One mission.
Global teams.
At the Global Finals, students from different countries and schools form multinational virtual aerospace companies. They elect their own leadership, work across engineering, operations and commercial roles, and respond to a new brief released on site.
“During the time in Beijing I enjoyed every effort taken and spent. I made new friends, built relationships and gained a great deal of new knowledge.”
“Illustrators on one side, students who had finished first-year university mathematics on the other. For twenty-four hours we pulled in one direction.”
The tenth edition
asks for a city.
One brief, one rubric, and the same five days in Beijing for every delegation. The 2027 setting is Europa: a settlement of a thousand people beneath the ice.
- 31 Jan 2027
- Qualifying Round registration closes
- 7 Mar 2027
- Proposal and pitch video deadline
- 10 Apr 2027
- Results and written feedback released
- 31 May 2027
- Global Finals delegation registration closes
- 12–16 Aug 2027
- Global Finals in Beijing, China
a city under the ice.
A deep-space fuel and research hub on Europa: 1,000 residents, a rotating habitation ring at 0.8 g, a service port for fifteen visiting vehicles — and no discharge into the ocean, at any point.
Aerospace engineering, life support, human factors, infrastructure and project cost, in one proposal.
Nearly 20 countries and regions,
one brief.
Each member country or region is represented by one partner institution, which coordinates schools, teams and national delegations within the international framework. The network takes in new members each season.
Bring GFSSM
to your country.
If you run a STEM programme, a school network or a science centre, you can hold the mandate for GFSSM in your country or region — with the authorization, the materials and the academic framework that come with it.
