European Space Camp (ESC) is a

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

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 a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

s. Participants from all over

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the world stay at the Andøya Space Center in Northern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

for one week, learning from professionals and becoming amateur

rocket scientist A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

s. Ultimately the goal of the camp is to launch a student sounding rocket, capable of carrying several

sensors A sensor is often defined as a device that receives and responds to a signal or stimulus. The stimulus is the quantity, property, or condition that is sensed and converted into electrical signal. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a devi ...

and reaching a height of 10 000m and

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

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. The students are involved in every aspect of the rocket campaign, ranging from internal circuitry and scientific case work to creating the payload of weather balloons for monitoring wind conditions prior to launch. 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 Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

and the Northern Lights. Group work enables participants to spend a week in the life of a scientist and tackle problems as part of a self-proposed scientific study relating to the rocket launch at the end of the week. The participants are divided into the following groups during the rocket campaign: Payload, Sensor Experiments (this group is also in charge of the balloon payload), Science Experiments, and Telemetry. The highlight of the week is the rocket launch, after which there is just enough time to analyse the collected data. An important part of ESC is connecting with the other participants. Therefore, a number of social activities are organised throughout the week, such as a mountain hike and swimming in the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

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 Space Center and Andøya Space Education, in cooperation with the Norwegian Space Centre and the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

(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 ESC 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

The organising team consists of former participants of the camp, who volunteer to work on the independent, non-profit organisation of ESC. *Lukass Kellijs (Head) *Anna Krajewski *Leanda Wenus *Marcus Ringmar *Figaro Stenlund

Andøya Space Education represented by

*Anne Margrethe Horsrud *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 child ...

was a guest lecturer in 2016 for the 20th anniversary. * Andrei Borisenko was a guest lecturer 2017. *

Charles Simonyi Charles Simonyi (; , ; born September 10, 1948) is a Hungarian Americans, Hungarian-American software architect. He introduced the graphical user interface to Bill Gates for the first time who later described it as the first of two revolutiona ...

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