Summer Science Program in Astrophysics — Summer School

The Summer Science Program in Astrophysics is a five-week residential research program for current high school juniors, run by SSP International, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1959 and based in Wilmington, Delaware. Participants live on a U.S. college campus and work in teams of three on a single project: asteroid orbit determination. Each team locates a near-Earth asteroid, writes an observing proposal, takes its own telescope images, and calculates the asteroid’s orbit from those measurements.

Those calculations go to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union, which is NASA-funded, to sharpen its predictions. Coursework runs alongside the project and covers astronomy, physics, mathematics, and scientific programming in Python. The 2026 astrophysics sessions ran at seven campuses, with roughly 60 hours a week spent on the research.

Benefits & funding

Five weeks of hands-on research with telescopes, faculty instruction, teaching assistants and residential mentors, guest lectures, and field trips.
Team results are submitted to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union.
The 2026 program fee was US$11,800 and covered tuition, room, board, supplies, and local transportation. Applying is free.
Need-based aid covers 100% of demonstrated financial need as grants, never loans, and admission decisions are made need-blind.
Household income under roughly US$100,000 likely qualifies for free attendance plus travel support; under roughly US$140,000 likely qualifies for a partially discounted fee.
Travel aid can include round-trip airfare. US$3,000 “lost wages” stipends are available by request at the time of admission for students who would otherwise need to work over the summer.
In 2025 SSP distributed US$3,045,000 in fee discounts, US$208,000 in travel aid, and US$102,000 in cash stipends.
International applicants are eligible for financial aid and submit English translations of family income tax documents.

Eligibility

Current high school juniors only. Freshmen, sophomores, and seniors are not eligible.
At least 15 years old and not yet 19 during all program dates.
Any level of high school physics plus precalculus, completed or in progress and finished by June; where physics is unavailable, calculus is accepted instead. Courses must be taken for credit and a grade.
No AP or advanced-level classes are required.
Open to students in any country. SSP sorts applicants into domestic (U.S. citizens or permanent residents attending school in the U.S.) and international (attending school outside the U.S., or without U.S. citizenship or permanent residency); each group has its own deadline.
International applicants may submit English proficiency test scores. No other standardized tests are collected or considered.
SSP encourages applications from students underrepresented in STEM and from those who would be the first in their family to attend college. This is an encouragement, not a requirement.

Can you apply?

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Education required
High School
Age requirement
15–18 yrs

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Application process

1
Watch ssp.org for the next cycle to open, or join the interest list for the 2027 program; the summer 2026 application opened on 31 December 2025.
2
Create an account in the SSP applicant portal and select the astrophysics track.
3
Submit the application, which carries no fee, together with a school transcript.
4
Arrange one recommendation from a math or science teacher; a second recommendation is highly preferred.
5
International applicants add test scores demonstrating English proficiency.
6
Submit by the deadline for your applicant group. In the 2026 cycle that was 29 January for international applicants and 19 February for domestic applicants.
7
Decisions arrive in mid-March for international applicants and mid-April for domestic applicants. Admitted students are then invited to apply for financial aid.

Program timeline

Applications open for summer 2026
Dec 31, 2025
International application deadline
Jan 29, 2026
Domestic application deadline
Feb 19, 2026
Decisions released to international applicants
Mid-March 2026
Decisions released to domestic applicants
Mid-April 2026
Five-week sessions run at seven campuses (Albion College, Georgia College & State University, Linfield University, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Colby College, Lehigh University, Knox College), each starting on 8, 15, 22, or 29 June
Jun 8, 2026 to Aug 1, 2026
Winter 2026
applications for summer 2027 expected to open; exact dates not yet published