European Space Camp (ESC) is an annual one-week residential summer camp held at Andøya Space in Andenes, Northern Norway, bringing together 24 young people ages 17-20 from around the world to participate in a real rocket campaign. Participants are divided into four working groups — Payload, Sensor Experiment, Telemetry, and Flight Modeling — and spend six days preparing and executing all aspects of a rocket launch, from soldering onboard electronics and developing weather balloon payloads to running flight simulations and establishing ground tracking systems.
The camp also includes lectures from European scientists and engineers on rocket physics and atmospheric phenomena, a mountain hike to the ALOMAR research station, and social activities under the midnight sun. All meals and double-room accommodation at the Space Center's hotel are provided. The 2026 camp runs July 26 to August 2.
Attendance is entirely scholarship-based — there is no paid application option. Scholarships are available through sponsoring organizations and vary in coverage from full costs to partial travel support. The program is run by a nonprofit staffed entirely by volunteers, many of whom are ESC alumni.