The Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education oversees a remarkable array of well-designed, high quality education programs. If you are interested in exploring how these programs can be brought to your community, please contact us.

Student Spaceflight Experiments Program
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP), launched June 2010 by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in partnership with NanoRacks, LLC, is a remarkable U.S. national Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education initiative that gives typically 300 to 1,000 students across a community the ability to design and propose real experiments to fly in low Earth orbit, first aboard the final flights of the Space Shuttle, and then on the International Space Station (ISS)—America’s newest National Laboratory.

Each community participating in SSEP conducts a local Flight Experiment Design Competition with student teams vying for an experiment slot reserved just for their community in a real research mini-laboratory scheduled to fly in orbit. The design competition—from program start, to experiment design, to submission of proposals by student teams—runs a minimum of 8 weeks. Students can design experiments in diverse fields, including: seed germination, crystal growth, physiology of microorganisms, cell biology and growth, food studies, and studies of micro-aquatic life. Content resources for teachers and students support foundational instruction on science in microgravity and experimental design. A suite of SSEP program elements—the Community Program—leverages the flight experiment design competition to engage the entire community. >More

The Voyage International Program
On a visit to the National Mall in Washington DC, one can see monuments of a nation—Memorials to Lincoln, Jefferson, and WWII, the Vietnam Wall, and the Washington Monument. Standing among them is Voyage—a one to 10-billion scale model of our Solar System—spanning 2,000 feet from the National Air and Space Museum to the Smithsonian Castle. Voyage celebrates what we know about Earth’s place in space—and our ability to know it. Created in partnership with Challenger Center for Space Science Education, the Smithsonian Institution, and NASA, Voyage’s design was approved by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission for permanent placement on the National Mall.

We are making replicas of Voyage available for permanent installation in communities world-wide (see Voyage in Washington, DC, Corpus Christi, Houston, and Kansas City). A seamless fusion of sculpture and science education, Voyage is appropriate for a park, college campus, or along a main thoroughfare. Grade K-12 lessons on Solar System science and exploration, professional development for teachers, a national team of planetary scientists visiting thousands of students, and family and public programs place the exhibition at the center of a sustainable community-wide learning experience. >More

Clarke Space Ambassadors (coming 2014)

Planet Earth Educator Fellows (coming 2014)

Blog on the Universe
Blog on the Universe is for anyone who gets joy from learning and aspires to know. To visit this space, you just need to be open to the possibility that science, the majesty of the universe, and the nature of our home world Earth can be presented in an exciting new light.

Whether you’re just an intrigued visitor, a grade K-12 classroom teacher, a museum or science center educator, or a parent exploring our world with your child at home, Blog on the Universe is committed to conceptual understanding at an emotional level. It’s about getting you emotional about science.

Blogger Jeff Goldstein, Ph.D., is the Director of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education. Many of Dr. Jeff’s Blog posts are cross-posted at the Huffington Post, The Climate Community, and the Space Tweep Society Blog. >More

Store Galactica
We’re an organization dedicated to educating the next generation, so we decided to open a very different kind of online store. Store Galactica is a place where our visitors can have a learning experience, and see the depth of our commitment to education in our products—many of which are derived directly from our national programs. Store Galactica also has a department called Science You Can Trust. It’s a place where teachers and parents can go for high quality science education products recommended by folks that understand good science education.

We believe science education is of national strategic importance, our programs are designed to help address the need, and Store Galactica helps ensure these programs are sustained. The net profit from purchases at Store Galactica provides an important revenue source for the Center in tough times for non-profits. >More

Planetary Research
The Center is committed to ensuring that all its science education programs fully reflect the research experience and are accurate in both scientific content and process. To this end, we have researchers on staff that split their time between planetary research and the development and delivery of national education programs.

Our research initiatives include: Research in Terrestrial Planetary Atmospheres, Cooperative Research in Planetary Astronomy, and Studies of Star Formation and the Origins of the Solar System. >More