ACADEMY
Scaling access to space through education & outreach
As trailblazers build the road to space, the industry needs more people with space domain expertise and exposure to the constraints and opportunities of operating in low Earth orbit and beyond.
Aurelia Academy presents a series of courses, flight experiences, consulting, external university course mentoring, and community building – all with the aim to build an empowered, principled, and inclusive space workforce needed for the next generation of spacefaring challenges.
FEATURED COURSE
Microgravity Project Design
Drawing on expertise from our team’s track record at the MIT Space Exploration Initiative (leading and supporting 10 zero-g flights in just 6 years) we piloted our first course, Microgravity Project Design (MPD), which leads students through engineering, science, and design knowledge for microgravity research flights. This course emphasizes the unique affordances of microgravity and how researchers and designers can leverage this environment on the path towards building artifacts for life in space.
We recruit an annual class cohort from leading STEAM organizations and educational fellowships, with the aim of profoundly democratizing access to this gateway zero-g opportunity. Taking a holistic approach and aiming to build an informed future space workforce, this class includes design, research, operations, and storytelling in addition to traditional aerospace approaches in science and engineering.
Horizon Zero Gravity Flight
Through our flagship parabolic research flight program, Horizon, we guide our flier cohort from ideation to developed project to microgravity on a chartered research flight. The Horizon cohort includes students from Microgravity Project Design (MPD), startups (including those incubated through Aurelia Foundry), universities, and sponsored research projects. This diverse mix of people and projects enhances the experience of all participants.
Aurelia’s Horizon zero-g flight, as the capstone for successful completion of our MPD course, is the only such course offering that integrates microgravity flight expertise and exposes first-time flyers to sophisticated R&D payloads–flown by their peers, startups, and Aurelia’s own team of experts.
Academy Mission & Vision
Aurelia Academy offers accessible courses to empower brand-new entrants to the space field and further enhance the knowledge of our burgeoning space workforce. We are building an inclusive community of space explorers dedicated to pushing humanity towards a meaningful future life in space where astronauts and spaceflight participants don’t just survive – they thrive.
By building a “real life” Starfleet Academy, Aurelia joins a growing group of institutions, companies, and organizations dedicated to collectively building out the next-generation space community. Our focus as a nonprofit is making microgravity design expertise, space architecture, and knowledge from deeply technical fields more accessible to a broader audience. We believe everyone has something to contribute to the space economy and we help bridge the expertise gap.
Want to begin your own journey to space?
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