space for your students

Professional Learning Development for teachers and space education programmes for your students through immersive experiences.

Spaceward Bound New Zealand

70
Visits to schools and events
1600
Total visitors through the planetarium

Immersive experiences

Our programmes are based on hands-on immersive experiences
that we deliver using:

Our own portable PLANETARIUM

Telescopes, mini Mars Rovers, a unique collection of Astrobiology-relevant rocks,
our own developed Analog Astronauts Programme,
VRAR, Water Rockets & Field Trips.

We are focused on delivering our programmes in an environment of cultural safety and respect. This means we engage mana whenua and seek opportunities for our work to link strongly with local perspectives.

SPACEWARD BOUND NEW ZEALAND is supplemented by a strong online presence, including mentorship, networking, follow up activities and educational resources for both students, teachers and the communities they are part of.

Planetarium Experience

year 1-13

The Astrobiology Dome

We have a modern portable planetarium and a significant amount of experience operating in schools.

It holds 25 students and their teachers comfortably, and is used for audio visual experiences projected on the inside of a dome. This generates a fantastic experience that can be used to demonstrate many different environments.

Look through and learn about telescopes

All ages

One of the best things about space sciences is that we can observe space from the surface of the Earth, day and night. When we come to your event or school we can bring our solar telescope for safely observing the Sun and we also bring our refracting telescope that we use to observe the Moon during the day time, when it’s visible. 

Workshops on telescopes, how to operate them and what to buy for your school are also available.

Explore extremophiles and learn about Astrobiology

year 5-13

Your students will handle a unique collection of extremophiles and learn about life in diverse environments. 

New Zealand is one of  the best places on Earth to study astrobiology. 

Learn about our country’s contribution to astrobiology, analog places in New Zealand and elsewhere on Earth and in the Solar System.

Mars Rovers

Ages 5-14

With our six wheeled robotic models of Mars Rovers, students experiment how to control and move around complex terrain. In planning mode, they can simulate how a rover is really driven on Mars by planning a route and then sending the driving commands to the rover and then watching what happens!

Field trip

All Ages

Once a year, we hold a field trip to regions of interest for the origin of life and astrobiology in New Zealand.

Rotorua 2023 Join us April 17-19

VR

Ages 13 and above

Explore space with our Virtual Reality headsets. Visit the International Space Station, see what it was like to launch with Apollo 11 or try out some orbital physics with your own asteroids. Go on a tour of the Solar System or even create your own solar system.

AR

Year 1-10

Our augmented reality 3D printed planets are a fantastic way to explore not only for visually impaired students but also for everyone else.

You’ll look at differences in the surface of Mars, Earth and the Moon, and explore the Solar System.

You can further explore them on your smart phone or iPad. 

Water rockets

Any age

Learn the basics of physics with our water rockets programmes. With or without calculus – depending on the age of your students.

Learn with us

Up-to-date and innovative technology

Immersive and Interactive

All our activities are hands-on

Professional Space Science Communicators

Field-basedSTEM

We are registered PLD providers with the Ministry of Education and work with Field-based.STEM to deliver PLD to schools across New Zealand. 

News & Events

NZ’s first Aerospace Summit

Milky-way Kiwi attended New Zealand’s first aerospace summit, on 5th of October 2022. 

The conference had more than 300 delegates participation and a programme with keynote addresses from Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck and NASA Deputy Administrator and former astronaut Pamela Melroy. The theme of the conference was “Building an Aerospace Nation”.

Read More