Four students from the GMAT aerospace team at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Indonesia have been selected for the DropTES fellowship programme run by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) with the ZARM centre at the University of Bremen, Germany.
In February 2027, the team will test at the Bremen Drop Tower how water moves between silica sand grains under vibration in near-zero gravity. The sand serves as a model for lunar and Martian soil. Three compartments will hold sand at 5%, 10% and 15% moisture, and a high-speed camera will record the roughly 9.3-second test.
The team is made up of Alessander Aritonang, the leader, Rendy Dwi Nugraha, Idam Sholikhah and Muhammad Riza Cetta Oegama. Preliminary tests at UGM are planned for late November or December.
