The ACCESS for Education Program


The ACCESS for Education Program flies
educational payloads to space for free!


Under the ACCESS Program, Microgravity Enterprises, Inc. (MEI) will donate payload space on every one of their commercial space launches for the purpose of flying educational payloads. The cost for the payload integration, spaceflight and recovery is completely covered by MEI and the ACCESS Foundation. The only cost for the participating payload organizations is the cost of their payload development.


You build it – and we’ll fly it to space and back for free!


Payload space will be dedicated to a full spectrum of activities ranging from K-12 Inspirational payloads, to next generation commercial space demonstration payloads developed by U.S. universities. Key aspects of the ACCESS Program are as follows:


  • Free flights for education based research payloads, from kindergarten through graduate school, on every MEI commercial launch
    • Phase 1 (began in 2007) – suborbital payloads
      • 1st ACCESS payload, called RocketSat III, flew to space in June 2007 – RocketSat III was designed and built by students at the University of Colorado, Boulder
      • Next ACCESS flight planned for Fall 2008
    • Phase 2 (beginning in ~ 2012) – orbital payloads
  • Focus on science and technologies oriented towards space commercialization


How To Participate in the ACCESS Program

Where To Start

To learn the nuts and bolts of flying a payload in space under the ACCESS Program, first decide if you best fit in the K–12 Inspirational payload category or the University Research payload category. In general, the Inspirational payload allotment is intended for use by K–12 student teams, and potentially junior college and university teams that are new to space flight experimentation. The Research payload allotments are designed for use by university payload teams and potentially experienced high school teams. After deciding where your team best fits, click on the appropriate link above to learn more about how to participate in the ACCESS Program.


The ACCESS Payload User’s Guide has the Details

ACCESS Payload User's Guide The ACCESS Payload User’s Guide is your one-stop document for understanding everything that you need to know about the ACCESS Program. It is written to provide payload organizations, including both Inspirational and Research payloads, with all of the information that they need to participate in the ACCESS Program. If you’ve read through the User’s Guide and browsed though the website, and still can’t find the answers to your questions, check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Also, feel free to contact the ACCESS Program Office if you have additional questions.