Astrophysics in Minecraft Portland2 **4-day**
Description
Over the past decade, Minecraft quickly grew to be one of the most popular video games in the world, and it can be utilized for much more than building houses and villages or fighting monsters. In Astrophysics in Minecraft camp, we will explore Minecraft worlds that simulate real astrophysical phenomena. Has the science behind the movie Interstellar intrigue you? Or have you ever wondered what terraforming Mars would be like? Or what if the Earth had no moon? Two moons? What criteria need to be met for a planet to be habitable? What other celestial bodies can be simulated in Minecraft?


We will use command-line tools to make observations and collect data about different stellar bodies: gravity, temperature, atmosphere, oxygen level, radiation level, radius, pressure, humidity, and teleport through the Multiverse to other worlds using simple in-game commands. We will record, analyze, and compare our findings with each other, and then create an end-of-week presentation to showcase what we learned throughout the camp.

Open to ages 10-14

Want to learn more about our camps? Check out our website here: https://usm.maine.edu/stem-outreach/stem-camps/

Camp pricing:

The University of Southern Maine is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, and we do everything in our power to keep our camps affordable for Maine families. At the same time we make an effort to staff with the best mentors for our campers, we do this by employing classroom educators, university faculty/staff, industry experts, and college undergraduate & graduate students.

With that being said, our biggest expense each year is our camp staff wages. As the cost of living, and the cost of wages increase, it directly impacts the cost to run our camps. Please keep this in mind as you’re browsing our selection of camps, and understand that we do everything we can to keep our camps affordable.

Possible Effects from 2025 Tariffs:

Please note that it is projected that there will be new tariffs going into effect starting early in 2025 that may directly impact some of our most critical camp equipment. This may impact any camp that has take-home electronics equipment (such as “3D Printing & Design”, “Build Your Own Computer Camp”, and “CubeSat Camp”), the cost of the materials may increase as much as 35%. At the moment “we don’t know” means “we don’t know” with regards to how this will impact the cost to run the program.

We are working to mitigate that by ordering this equipment early, but we are preparing for the cost of 3D printers, computer hardware, and any other electronics equipment to increase significantly. If this ends up happening, we will work with families directly to find the best solution in this scenario, but it may result in an add-on cost to camper families.
Location:
University of Southern Maine - Portland
Dates:
Week 2 - 6/30 - 7/3 (4-day)
Time:
9:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Ages:
Ages 10 - 14
Cost:
$360.00
Availability:
This session has openings
Registration will end on 6/28/2025.
Discounts
Multi-Week Discount
If a camper is enrolled in multiple weeks, or siblings are registered, each week receives a $20 discount.		$20.00