Where visions and people grow – for Earth and Space

In ARIS, we combine inspiration for space exploration, hands-on project work and personal development. We encourage students to take charge, define a vision and realize it – attributes that leaders, managers, engineers have to live to shape the future of Earth and Space.

ARIS Vision

Contribute to the Advancement of Life and take part in exploring its Origins by developing Systems Meant for Space.


Advancement of Life: Our partners are well established in the space industry, focus on products for daily use on Earth or manufacture components meant for space. At ARIS, we focus on learning from these highly valuable collaborations and linking them with insights from our strong academic support. Within this setting, we are confident to target the advancement of life by actively contributing to one of the greatest endeavors of humanity: Becoming a multiplanetary species.

Exploring its Origins: As well as advancing in life and creating a better future, ARIS has also made it its mission to further explore our origins. To be able to advance in life, we must fully understand where we come from and there is no better place to start other than space: The place where it all began.

System Development for Space: In order to achieve our missions of advancing life and exploring our origins, we require smart, young people from the areas of Engineering, Mathematics and Business. By inspiring and working with students from the best universities around Switzerland and the world, we aim to build systems of the highest quality meant for space.

Form engineers and leaders of tomorrow: Every year, ARIS brings together more than 100 students from ETH Zürich and other universities. Students of different backgrounds, whether they are doing their bachelors or a PhD, engage in interdisciplinary space engineering challenges. Through this we form resilient and capable engineers, scientists and leaders for Switzerland and the World.

A bottom-up initiative

ARIS was founded by a group of enthusiastic students in August 2017 in a classroom at ETH Zürich. It is a non-profit association with the purpose to form students in hands-on project work and to sustainably shape the perception of space. Made by students for students, ARIS stands for ambition and Swiss pioneering spirit.

Why Space – a Growing Market

Space is changing: private and commercial actors impact the industry and make space more accessible, series manufacturing is being established for satellites, more and more start-ups discover their business cases in orbit. The big agencies, on the other hand, go for the next leap: back to the Moon and forward to Mars to stay.

A perfect time to foster our base out in Switzerland and inspire the next generation to pursue their dreams!

Do space and talk about it

ARIS focusses on engineering projects, conducts keynotes with space experts and inspires the next generation through STEM activities.

New space: involve new actors

Our partners are established in the space industry or focus on products for our daily use on Earth. Together we shape the exploration of the last frontier: Space.

A broad network in academia and industry

In ARIS, we bring together the experience of academia and industry. We combine the strengths of ETH Zürich and the universities of applied sciences HSLU and ZHAW.

Connect across Switzerland and the World

Space is unlimited, and big steps require collaboration. We connect and exchange with teams across Switzerland and around the World.

The Roadmap towards Space

ARIS aims to be in orbit within 10 years. On our way there, we identified three milestones on our timeline: a rideshare mission of our CubeSat SAGE and a launch of an ARIS rocket to 100’000ft by 2024, and the launch of an ARIS rocket to the Karman line at 100km until 2026. However, we do not just want to fly high. We intend to get to the stratosphere first, by developing and testing innovative new technologies together with our partners from industry and academia – being a key player in Switzerland’s thriving space industry and research environment.

How we work

ARIS is a multi-project organization formed around the rocket project. The student teams and sub-teams are given high flexibility and responsibility to work efficiently and independently where ever possible. The cross-functional business teams provide operational support for the engineering teams and cover other ARIS activities. Coordination is ensured by the Association Board. ARIS follows yearly cycles aligned with the academic calendar. Yearly, we engage about 50 new students.

A space to grow

Together with our mentors, we embrace the personal development of our members. We guide them and facilitate their ability to work in interdisciplinary teams. We give them the tools to deal with unexpected situations and solve conflicts. Our ‘fail fast’ and collaborative culture assures a steep learning curve, backed by a safety net. With their insights, both from success and failure, we motivate them to go out into the World tackle the challenges of tomorrow.

A culture of responsibility

ARIS is an independent non-profit association. Over 300 students engage voluntarily up to 40 hours per week besides their studies. Our structure encourages the students to take charge and actively shape ARIS.

Strategic guidance

Through ARIS, the students and our partners evolve into new fields of technology and education. To make sure we stay at the cutting edge of the developments, an Advisory Board was set up in 2020.

Safety & Transparency

ARIS provides a safe and reliable environment to achieve the extraordinary. Internal review loops are being installed for safety and finances. Regular reviews with external partners ensure its relevance.

Coaching & Mentoring

We value the personal development of our members, performing teams and aggregation of knowledge from one team to the next. In ARIS, students coach students together with our mentors to achieve the extraordinary.

ARIS is organised into different teams, tackling many different challenges – from rockets to engines to satelites. Get an overview of them and browse their websites!