Interstellar Dreams, a program from the Pearl Project Institute for Innovation in STEM, plans to open a space center in Reston sometime around fall 2023. The 40,000-square-foot center will offer science, technology, engineering, and math training and simulations in a virtual, real-world environment utilizing floor-to-ceiling LED screens. Featured in the experience will be an array of learning spaces, including a mission command, a space station, and a planetary habitat. Mission commanders will walk participants through exercises and simulations, during which visitors will solve celestial problems.
“I am so excited about the ability to bring high-level STEM to the middle of Fairfax County, [which] some people call … the East Coast Silicon Valley,” says Robin McDougal, Interstellar Dreams founder and CEO. “A lot of aerospace companies that are changing the world are [based] along the Dulles Toll Road. … Reston is [also] known for having a community of families and youth that are really, really ready for the next level of technology in STEM, and we think aerospace is the next big thing.”
Designed to engage students as well as emerging and existing professionals, the center is particularly hoping to attract women to a field that has long been dominated by men. “The aerospace industry is ripe for the influence of our girls and women,” says McDougal. “Although we service everyone, we have an intentional strategy to go after girls and women, who oftentimes do not see themselves reflected in the world of aerospace.”
The program is currently raising $5 million to fund immersive learning. Creating a center for aerospace learning helps to galvanize communities and prepare the next generation to assume leadership in the global economy.
“Aerospace and commercial space have become an industry … and one of the things we know they need is more than [just] astronauts,” McDougal says. “Becoming an astronaut is a wonderful aspiration, but there are a lot of people who make sure astronauts are successful. … I want to bring to our community those job titles, those experts — people we call black belt experts — [and] those opportunities to practice with practitioners. … We want to fan the flame of invention and innovation between black belt experts, emerging professionals, and our youth to solve real-world problems.”
In late August, the Interstellar Dreams Space Center launched its prototype location at George Mason University’s Research Hall. McDougal is an alum of the Fairfax-based university, where she earned an executive master’s in business administration and a master’s in education.
There, McDougal hopes space center participants will learn concepts that can change lives and impact communities. “It [is] interrelated to be able to solve problems in your community that will benefit us in the future with future technology,” she says. “We want them to have interstellar dreams [and] know that, no, the stars are not the limit. Galaxies, other solar systems, and nebulas [are within reach].”
This story originally ran in our January issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to our monthly magazine.
