Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space is an international student organization whose purpose is to promote space exploration and development through educational and engineering projects.
History
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space was founded in 1980 at MIT by Peter Diamandis, Princeton University by Scott Scharfman, and Yale University by Richard Sorkin, and consists of an international group of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from a diverse range of educational backgrounds who are working to promote space. SEDS is a chapter-based organization with chapters in Canada, India, Israel, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States. The permanent National Headquarters for SEDS-USA resides at MIT and that of SEDS-India resides at Vellore Institute of Technology. Though collaboration is frequent, each branch and chapter is independent and coordinates their own activities and projects.1980s
SEDS was founded on 17 September 1980, primarily by Peter Diamandis, Scott Scharfman, Richard Sorkin, Robert D. Richards, and Todd B. Hawley and their first meeting was held on Thursday, 30 October 1980. After the initial meetings in 1980, SEDS president Peter Diamandis wrote a letter to the editor of Omni magazine deploring the status of the space program and asking students to help make a difference. The letter, published in Omni in early 1981, attracted students from around the world to SEDS. This laid the foundations for the first SEDS international conference, held at George Washington University between July 15–19, 1982. As the decade progressed, SEDS continued to have more international conferences, which rotated among schools including George Washington University, University of Alabama in Huntsville, and Caltech. During the end of the decade, UKSEDS was founded at the Science Museum and held their first conference at the University of Cambridge during 25–26 November 1989.1990s
During the 1990s, SEDS continued to host a national conference each year, sometimes in conjunction with the International Space Development Conference through 1997, when the last "SEDS National Conference" was held. UKSEDS continued to have national conferences at rotating locations each year. During the last years of the decade, there was a major decline in SEDS leadership and a connected drop in the number of member chapters around the United States.2000s
In 2004, the SEDS National Conferences were re-established by MITSEDS and hosted on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on November 11–14. The conference was renamed the SEDS SpaceVision conference and featured many speakers who would return year after year during this decade, including Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides, founder Dr. Robert Richards, Rick Tumlinson, George T. Whitesides, Robert Zubrin, and Pete Worden. The SpaceVision conference then visited University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Central Florida, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, University of Arizona, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Colorado at Boulder, University at Buffalo, and Arizona State University. SpaceVision 2014 will be hosted by UNC Chapel Hill During this time, UKSEDS continued to have one national conference each year. SEDS India, after hosting the SEDS International conference in 2007, continued with SEDS India National Conferences every year since 2009 at Vellore Institute of Technology, India. SEDS also began exploring innovative national projects such as fund-raising for a joint SEDS chapter Zero-G flight and designing an innovative national Rockoon competition modeled after the Ansari X PRIZE.Active SEDS-USA projects
SEDS-USA organizes annual and rolling projects to engage its members in space-related activities. Two such projects are:SEDS High-Power Rocketry Competition
This is a competition between chapters designed to challenge students in high-power rocketry. The goal of the competition is to launch a rocket, designed and built by the chapter members, to an altitude of 10,000 feet above sea-level. This competition has now successfully run for 2 years. The winner of the 2012 competition was Purdue-SEDS.Student NewSpace Business Plan Competition
Started in 2011, this competition is co-organized with the Space Frontier Foundation and aims to provide students with a real-world experience in entrepreneurship applied to the space industry. Students are required to develop space-scalable business models that will advance the NewSpace movement and are judged by a panel of 5 experts who have had several years of experience in space entrepreneurship. The winners of the 2011 and 2012 competitions were Illinois State University and Iowa State University respectively.International Branches
SEDS is organized by country, region, and chapter. There is a large contingent of SEDS chapters in the United States, which are governed regionally and nationally by SEDS-USA. SEDS India has nine SEDS chapters under it and is headquartered at Vellore Institute of Technology. There are other national sections of SEDS across the world, notably SEDS-Canada and UKSEDS, and student leaders of the international groups convene as SEDS-Earth, the global governing body of SEDS. SEDS is an organization member of the Alliance for Space Development.SEDS-USA
SEDS-USA is the governing body of all chapters in the United States, and is the largest and original branch of SEDS. It is overseen by a national Board of Directors, Board of Advisers and a Board of Trustees. An integral aspect of SEDS-USA is the Council of Chapters. This council consists of national representatives of each chapter and is led by the Chair of the Council of Chapters. The CoC meets via teleconference to exchange updates between individual chapters and the national board. The 2019–20 national directors of SEDS-USA are listed below.| Position | Description | Board Member |
| Chair | Preside over board and oversee decision-making process. | Charlie Nitschelm |
| Vice-Chair | Alumni and Advisers liaison. Leads fundraising efforts. | George Sarkodie |
| Treasurer | Keep financial records and control legal and financial matters. | Matthew Barr |
| Chair of the Council of Chapters | Conduct CoC meetings and work with SEDS-USA chapters. | Ian Burrell |
| Secretary | Set up meeting rooms for SEDS-USA national meetings and take minutes. | Chanel Richardson |
| Member At-Large | Work on general tasks that require action within SEDS-USA. | Eitan Lis |
| Member At-Large | Work on general tasks that require action within SEDS-USA. | Mauricio Martinez |
UKSEDS
is the UK's national student space society. They support students and enthusiasts across the United Kingdom by running , hosting , and doing to inspire and educate. They build links between different parts of the space community within the UK and internationally. Their current chair is Jacob Smith.UKSEDS began in 1988, when several students who had attended International Space University 's first Space Studies Program which was held at MIT made the decision to set up the organisation in the UK. A founding conference was held in March 1989 at London's Science Museum, with a full conference at Cambridge University in November of that year.
SEDS-Canada
is a federally incorporated not-for-profit organization based in Toronto, Canada, whose mandate is to advocate for the exploration and development of space through non-partisan political advocacy, conferences, student competitions, and chapter grants. The organization was initiated in early 1981 by entrepreneur Bob Richards, and it was re-established in 2014 by a group of students from the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario after several years of inactivity. SEDS-Canada currently has eleven university operating across the country.As part of their goals, SEDS-Canada seeks to engage Canadian policy makers and electoral candidates at all levels of government in a multi-year effort with the aim of defending cuts to good space policy, and campaigning for new policies to ensure Canadian leadership in niche areas of space exploration and development.
SEDS-Turkey
Space Exploration and Development of Space Turkey, founded in March 2017 by Hadican Çatak at Hacettepe University, is the first and only national space and entrepreneurial organization with its 350+ active members and branches in 8 universities as of January 2019.SEDS TR's goal is to gather all interested undergraduates, master's degree students, and doctoral students and to carry out tasks that help them improve their career prospects in their field of activity by establishing a common working platform.
In order to reach this goal, SEDS TR has been working on engineering projects, organizing events and extending its area of effect by founding SEDS organizations in universities throughout Turkey and in respect to this, SEDS is trying to make operations and work done mentioned above accessible to every other student in Turkey.
SEDS-UAE
The SEDS-UAE Chapter is based at the Our Own English High School in Abu Dhabi. This chapter was founded by a high school student, Nishirth Khandwala. Members of SEDS UAE engage themselves in various activities and programs such as the International Asteroid Search Campaign.SEDS South Africa
is South Africa's national student Space society, and is the governing body of all SEDS chapters in South Africa. SEDS South Africa is made up of students and young professionals in Southern Africa who are interested in Space exploration and development. This includes engaging government policymakers, amateur satellite building, model rocketry, manufacturing in Space, student and young professionals collaboration, connecting with the Space industry, ham amateur radio, analogue Space missions, Space exploration, and Space technology to benefit humankind. SEDS South Africa facilitates the education of people about the benefits of space, by supporting a network of interested students and young professionals, and providing opportunities to inspire them and develop their leadership skills. SEDS South Africa's founding chapter is the University of Cape Town, SEDS-SA-UCT.SEDS India
SEDS-India is the governing body of SEDS in India with its headquarters at Vellore Institute of Technology. SEDS India was founded in 2004 by Pradeep Mohandas and Abhishek Ray. The first chapter was established in Mumbai at PIIT, New Panvel. SEDS India governs affiliated chapters in India at various universities, including Vellore Institute of Technology, Veltech University, Birla Institute of Technology & Science Pilani-Goa, Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College and SASTRA University. Chapter affairs are controlled by the Local Chapter Committee which reports to the Executive Board of SEDS India. The Executive Board of SEDS India consists of six Board Members who are selected through a voting process, with all individual members of SEDS India being eligible to vote. The Permanent Trustee of SEDS India is Geetha Manivasagam, Vellore Institute of Technology. The advisory panel has multiple dignitaries on its board, including the Associate Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Center.The main outreach program of SEDS India is called OneSpace. OneSpace was founded to spread awareness about and engagement with space among underprivileged children in rural India and children residing in local orphanages. Attempts have also been made by SEDS India to outreach to northeast India, where access to space education and technical projects is more difficult. These efforts were led with the help of Angaraj Duara, an alumnus of Maharishi Vidyamandir Shilpukhuri, Guwahati, and established seven chapters in Assam. They are the Army Public School Narangi, Sharla Birla Gyan Jyoti School Guwahati, IIT-Guwahati, Handique Girls College, Royal Global Institute - RSET Guwahati, Donbosco Public School Panbazar and Tezpur University. SEDS-APSN was the first chapter in northeast India. A separate SEDS-NorthEast governing body oversees activities in the northeast.
SEDS Singapore
SEDS-Singapore, founded in July 2019 by a group of students from National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University, is the first and only national space and entrepreneurial organization in Singapore. The goal of SEDS Singapore is to provide a platform for students of all backgrounds based in Singapore to actively participate in ushering in a new space age.Currently, there are 2 SEDS chapters under SEDS Singapore. SEDS-NUS based in National University of Singapore and SEDS-NTU based in Nanyang Technological University.
Current Active Projects Of SEDS Singapore:
| Project | Chapter |
| Mars Rover Challenge | |
| High Altitude Balloon | SEDS NTU |
Notable student leaders
- Jeff Bezos, Princeton
- Eric C. Anderson, Co-Founder and Chairman of Virginia-based Space Adventures, Ltd., the first commercial spaceflight company—whilst enrolled as a student at the University of Virginia, Eric started a chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space.