New STEM Opportunity – Permanently Install a Voyage Scale Model of the Solar System in Your Community as a Focal Point for STEM Education

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• After reading this Press Release, explore the Voyage National Program Website, and the Available Exhibitions page

Voyage Mark II Exhibition Available for Permanent Installation Summer 2021

Opportunity for a Community to Engage Students, Families, and the Public at Large in an Outdoor STEM Experience in the Space Sciences

For Immediate Release
January 13, 2021

Time Critical: installation may be possible as early as summer 2021; interested museums and science centers, school districts, colleges and universities, and local government organizations are directed to inquire as soon as possible; a $5K seed grant to reduce overall cost is available to the first 5 communities to commit

Contact: Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Voyage National Program Director, jeffgoldstein@ncesse.org, 301-395-0770

The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and Exhibitology LLC are inviting communities across the U.S. to explore permanent installation of a Voyage Mark II Scale Model Solar System as part of the Voyage National Program. The Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education is extending this invitation to communities across Canada. Local organizations with an interest in STEM education and experiential learning more generally are invited to consider installing a Voyage in a local park, along a walking path, on a college campus, or along a downtown street. The exhibition is designed to serve as a community focal point for STEM education – for students, families and the general public. The exhibition is ADA compliant, and tactile elements on the storyboards allow the blind and vision impaired to have as rich an experience as other visitors. A tour brochure promotes self-guided inquiry-based exploration of the Solar System, and online content resources for both teachers and parents extend the Voyage experience beyond the exhibition site. A grade K-12 curriculum on Solar System science allows a visit to Voyage to be placed in the context of a multi-week classroom unit on the Solar System.

• with Voyage, a college or university can designate campus as a STEM education destination site for pre-college student groups
• a school district can partner with a local park to provide tour opportunities for classes, with strong curricular connections to science and STEM
• city government can use Voyage as both an artistic and educational experience along a 2,000 ft path, and invite new visitorship to a business district
• a museum or science center can extend learning experiences to outdoor spaces, and beyond normal operating hours

This is also an invitation to become part of a network of Voyage Communities, all sharing a common heritage of Voyage on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

Voyage Mark II Exhibition in a Park; click to zoom

Voyage Mark II Exhibition on a college campus; click to zoom

Background – Voyage on the National Mall in Washington, DC
In October 2001 a 1 to 10-billion scale model of the Solar System was permanently installed on the National Mall in Washington, DC, between the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument. Located along a 2,000-foot path in front of the Smithsonian Institution – from the National Air and Space Museum to the Smithsonian Castle – 13 stanchions allow the visitor to explore the Solar System from the Sun out to the dwarf planet Pluto.

Voyage Mark I Exhibition in Washington DC. The inner Solar System is in front of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Pluto is 2,000 ft beyond, near the Smithsonian Castle Building, in the direction of the Washington Monument. click to zoom

Appropriately called Voyage, the exhibition allows visitors to leave our Earth and gain a profound conceptual understanding of humanity’s place in a greater space, in a way that only a scale model of the Solar System can convey. Approved by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission for placement on this reverential ground, the commissioners also recognized a deeper objective – Voyage would celebrate our remarkable capacity as a race of explorers to decipher our place in space, and through scientific inquiry, reveal the majesty of the universe. They viewed this as a story that would captivate young and old, appeal to the millions of annual international visitors to the National Mall from across the planet, and inspire a new generation to find their way to the frontiers of human exploration – so they may continue the voyage.

Given the story of our existence knows no national boundaries, the intent was that Voyage would be replicated and permanently installed at 100 sites across the U.S. and around the world. The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education therefore established the Voyage National Program to bring this experience to communities everywhere. The Mall Exhibition – the Mark I Exhibition – while available, is expensive for replication given the unique constraints imposed by the Commissions in DC. The Center and Exhibitology have therefore designed a lower cost Voyage Exhibition – the Mark II – that preserves the design aesthetic of Voyage on the National Mall. As of January 2021, the Voyage Mark II is available, with potential for installation in summer 2021 for the first 5 community sites.

Through these programs we want to invite your community to take this voyage with us.

We all share this world, are charged with its stewardship, and through education believe that it should be the birthright of all our children to understand the story of our existence. We invite you to take a Voyage that will forever change your perspective of home.

I say!” murmured Horton. I’ve never heard tell
Of a small speck of dust that is able to yell.
So you know what I think?… Why I think that there must
Be someone on top of that small speck of dust!
Some sort of creature of very small size,
Too small to be seen by an elephant’s eyes…

—Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who!, 1954.

The Voyage Experience – Voyage Exhibition Opening in Kansas City
Watch this video for an understanding of the experience for visitors to a Voyage exhibition.

Dr. Jeff Goldstein, Voyage National Program Director
Kauffman Conversations – Highlight Interviews with thought leaders whose ideas and insights are changing society
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
To consider this opportunity for your community, explore the Voyage National Program website, and the Available Exhibitions page.

The Voyage National Program (VNP) is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S., and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with Exhibitology LLC.

Big Kid Science is a National Partner on the Voyage National Program.