The eight-week workshop series, in partnership with the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative, Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library and the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, offered teens an opportunity to explore VR in space, rocket building and high-altitude weather balloons, and to learn how to design and code experimental microcontrollers.

Beyond the innovative science content itself (how many libraries can claim to have launched a space program!), Space Explorations emphasized the civic aspects of participatory science and open data. It was also innovative in the scale and scope of the collaboration involved, including multiple public libraries in multiple states and multiple higher ed and research centers.

Our first Space Explorations series was a smashing success, with attendance that often strained our room capacity, and culminated in a launch of a high-altitude weather balloon mounted with sensors that sent information back to students. We are working with our partners to refine details for even more ambitious future sessions, which may include the permanent installation of a base station at the library, to receive and process data from overhead satellites.