European Space Camp

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European Space Camp

European Space Camp (ESC) is a summer camp for youths aged 17-20, which focuses on giving a hands-on experience into the field of aerospace engineering and launch vehicles. Participants from all over Europe and the World stay at Andøya Rocket Range for one week, learning from professionals and becoming amateur rocket scientists. Ultimately the goal of the camp is to launch a student rocket, capable of carrying several sensors and reaching a height of 8000m and Mach 2. Participants are divided into groups ordered with respect to their interests and skills and work together as a team for the week-long project of launching a student rocket. Through the European Space Camp experience, the youths are motivated to acquire education the direction of rocket science or related science subjects.

The activities at the camp include experimentation, calculation and organization of the project. Additionally lectures in the field of rocket science are given. However, the focus of the camp is just as much on the social as on the learning. At the camp, the participants get to know 20+ other youths sharing their own interests, coming from all over the world. By activities such as midnight swims in midnight sun, whale safari, swoosh ball, mountain climbing, volley ball etc. the participants get an unforgettable chance to acquire international friends and experience.

History

European Space Camp at Andøya Rocket Range was arranged for the first time in the summer of 1996. It was the Norwegian Association of Young Scientists that initiated the idea of a summer camp with this specific subject. Today the camp is made possible by the joint efforts of Andøya Rocket Range AS and the National Centre of Space-Related Education (NAROM), in cooperation with the Norwegian Space Centre and the European Space Agency (ESA).

The first Space Camp Andøya in 1996 was such a success that the concept was developed further each year. In 2001 Space Camp became a European event which in 2002 hosted participants from 10 different countries. Space Camp Andøya is special with regard to subjects dealt with, the participants' real involvement in the work and what they learn during the camp. The youths at Space Camp work in groups on specific tasks which are all related to the rocket launch at the end of the camp. The students are treated as real scientists and work on advanced problems using professional equipment. The professors and scientists being around are valuable resources and helpers, leaving all the actual scientific work to the participants.