European Space Camp (ESC) is a

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

for youths aged 17–20, which focuses on giving a hands-on experience into the field of

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

and

space science Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually conside ...

s. Participants from all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the world stay at the

Andøya Space Center Andøya is the northernmost island in the Vesterålen archipelago, situated about inside the Arctic circle. Andøya is located in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The main population centres on the island include the villages of ...

in Northern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

for one week, learning from professionals and becoming amateur

rocket scientist Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

s. Ultimately the goal of the camp is to launch a student

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

, capable of carrying several

sensors A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

and reaching a height of 10 000m and Mach 3. Participants are divided into groups ordered with respect to their interests and work together as a team for the week-long project of launching a student rocket. Through the European Space Camp experience the young people are motivated to redirect their studies or renew their interest in the direction of science and technology. The scientific part of the camp is divided between lectures and group work. Some of the best lecturers from across Europe lecture on topics as diverse as Rocket Physics, the work of

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gen ...

and the Northern Lights. Group work enables participants to spend a week in the life of a scientist and tackle a problem relating to the rocket launch at the end of the week. There are six groups in total: Rocket System Design, Experimental Instrumentation, Payload, Rocket Telemetry, Rocket Physics and GPS. The highlight of the week is the rocket launch, which takes place near the end of the week, with just enough time to analyse the results of the launch. An important part of Space Camp is getting to know the other participants. As a result, a number of social activities are organised throughout the camp.

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

AS and the National Centre of Space-Related Education (NAROM), in cooperation with the

Norwegian Space Centre The Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA) (formerly the Norwegian Space Centre (NSC); Norwegian'':'' ''Norsk Romsenter'') is a Norwegian government agency that follows up Norway's public space activities. NOSA's goal is to ensure that Norway benefits f ...

and the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

(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. European Space Camp 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.

Organizers and Partners

Team Space Camp

*Gaute Holen (Head) *Nina Marie Thomsen (Vice Head) *Tiia Tikkala *Inge Eide Johnsen *Anne Nijdam Svindland *Anders Mørk

National Centre of Space-Related Education (NAROM) represented by

*Arne-Hjalmar Hansen *Hege-Merethe Strømdal *Anita Hanssen

Notable guests

* Alv Egeland has been a lecturer since the first camp in 1996. * Egil Lillestøl has been a lecturer since 2001. *

Christer Fuglesang Arne Christer Fuglesang (born 18 March 1957) is a Swedish physicist and an ESA astronaut. He was first launched aboard the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission on 10 December 2006, making him the first Swedish citizen in space. Married with three chil ...

was a guest lecturer in 2016 for the 20th anniversary. *

Andrei Borisenko Andrey Ivanovich Borisenko (russian: Андрей Иванович Борисенко; born 17 April 1964) is a Russian cosmonaut. He was selected as a cosmonaut in May 2003, and is a veteran of two long duration missions to the International Spa ...

was a guest lecturer 2017. *

Charles Simonyi Charles Simonyi (; hu, Simonyi Károly, ; born September 10, 1948) is a Hungarian-American software architect. He started and led Microsoft's applications group, where he built the first versions of Microsoft Office. He co-founded and led I ...

visited the camp in 2015.

References

External links

European Space Camp official site
{{Use British English, date=January 2014 European Space Agency Space organizations Space camps