Imagine a permanent Space Science Centre in Carterton, a hub of scientific discovery that is an attraction and benefits us, the locals, by providing exceptional educational resources. Imagine this centre is attracting visitors from far and wide who would love to learn about the Wairarapa Dark Skies. Over the summer of 2022-2023, we saw it with our pop-up Wairarapa Space Science Centre, which already demonstrated this potential. Many visitors travelled to Carterton to join us, and their presence benefited businesses across our thriving community.
From December 2022 to February 2023, Hari and Sam from Milky-Way.Kiwi and the New Zealand Astrobiology Network Charitable Trust run the pop-up Wairarapa Space Science Centre as a proof of concept and feasibility study for a permanent space science centre in Carterton. It worked! Open every day from 19 December 2022 to 6 February 2023, except for Christmas and New Year’s Day; we were thrilled to welcome 3,300 curious minds from all walks of life to explore the wonders of the universe with us.
Read more about our pop-up space science centre here.
Supported by Wellington.NZ and Carterton District Council, Go Carterton, organises the second edition of Carterton Space Week. All go for space!
Thanks to the Masterton Trust Lands Trust, the Mars Blueberry Planetarium visits schools in Masterton to teach about dark skies.
Wellington.NZ sponsors the course run by Milky-Way.Kiwi. Businesses from Wairarapa learn how to use the dark sky reserve to their benefit.
Carterton Space Week idea ignites. Go Carterton joins the outreach efforts.
It worked like a charm! We had 3300 visitors in 45 days!
It featured our Look After Our Night Sky - Dark Skies exhibition, a Mars Exhibition and the Mars Blueberry Planetarium.
Sponsored by Kapai Carterton, the Mars Blueberry Astrobiology Dome planetarium visits all the schools in the Carterton District.
We will continue our education and outreach work within the region, host events and planetarium shows and we hope to see you there.
The Wairarapa Space Science Centre is a project o the New Zealand Astrobiology Network. We are a registered charity CC55226
www.astrobiology.nz
New Zealand Astrobiology Network is a charitable trust established in 2016. The trust is dedicated to encouraging, assisting, and promoting astrobiology in New Zealand. We also help provide access to programmes in astrobiology education and outreach around the world.
