Space Explorations in Public Libraries.
Team : Watching-Place; PLIX, Charlotte Mecklenberg Library, Cambridge Public Library.
All learning materials for Space Explorations are freely available (and remixable) on the PLIX activity repository, here.
In partnership with the Media Lab’s Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX), we co-developed Space Explorations — a series of creative learning workshops for public library patrons to learn about space environments, and how they can be characterized with small spacecraft. The curriculum explores three different topics: rapid prototyping, payload development, and data collection.
Initially inspired by the Climate CubeSat Co-Building program we developed, Space Explorations takes a more creative approach for engaging with the technical elements of small spacecraft design, fabrication, and launch. The workshop series leads participants in building model cubesats with customized payloads (which might be used for gathering data, creative new types of art, and more), which are eventually launched using large helium balloons. The pilot of this program ran simultaneously across three public libraries: in Cambridge, MA, Charlotte, NC, and Ballerup, Denmark (in collaboration with Technical University of Denmark).
Here are some examples of various Space Explorations workshops in public libraries:
And example creative payload outcomes:
