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Ellis Abel Learns.

Space & Astronomy Summer Camp in Petaluma, CA

Petaluma is one of the cities the Santa Rosa–Petaluma, CA metro area is officially named after. The case for space & astronomy summer camp here is not that the area lacks camps — it is that most of them end without the child being able to explain what they made.

Ages 7-14 · For families · California · West

Space & Astronomy Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Petaluma, CA
Space & Astronomy Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Petaluma, CA

What the week actually is

Space is the best bait in STEM and the easiest to waste. This week uses it properly: orbital mechanics as ratio problems, rocket stability as a physics argument, distance to Mars as an exercise in numbers too big to feel.

Day by day

  1. Scale: how far is far
  2. Build the rocket, predict the flight
  3. Launch and measure the error
  4. Orbits as ratio problems
  5. Showcase: present the flight data

Petaluma, CA — what applies locally

  • Petaluma is one of the cities the Santa Rosa–Petaluma, CA metro area is officially named after.
  • Metro area: Santa Rosa–Petaluma, CA
  • State: California · Region: West

Questions we get from Petaluma, CA

Do they launch anything?
Model rockets, yes, with the flight predicted on paper before it leaves the pad.
Is there a telescope night?
Where the camp site allows it. Otherwise the observation work is done with real archived imagery.
What ages get the most out of it?
Nine and up, though seven-year-olds do fine with the building half.

Other camp themes in Petaluma

Space Camp elsewhere in California

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