School Profile
Founded in 2014 as Ad Astra School in Hawthorne, California, at the SpaceX rocket factory. Reconstituted online in 2021 as Astra Nova, an independent founder-driven 501(c)(3).
- Founded as Ad Astra School
- 2014
- Total students
- 315
- Countries
- 45
- Unique courses each year (around)
- 250
- Students per class (general range)
- 6–16
- Of demonstrated financial need met
- 100%
Co-Founders
-
Josh Dahn
Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director
josh@astranova.org -
Dr. Rose Rohde
Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director
drrose@astranova.org -
Tara Safronoff
Co-Founder & Co-Executive Director
tara@astranova.org
I. Basics
Astra Nova is an online, non-profit, WASC-accredited school. We enroll middle school students (ages 11–14) and high school students (ages 14–18).
We currently have 315 total students from 45 countries.
Each year, we offer around 250 unique courses across three terms (Term 1, Term 2, and Term 3). OPEN courses are available to all students. HIGH SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY, and PROFESSIONAL courses are available to academically qualified students ages 13+.
All courses are taught live in English on Zoom — class sizes generally range from 6 to 16 students.
Our founding high school class has 12 students who attend class with an additional 100 part-time high school students from around the world.
Astra Nova is a need-blind school that meets 100% of demonstrated financial need, as verified through Clarity, for both US-based and international students.
II. Mission and Impact
A generation of kids who contribute good to the world.
Astra Nova, though relatively small, aims to have an outsized impact by reaching students in three primary ways:
- we enroll a cohort of highly committed Graduation Track high school students.
- we enroll talented students in challenging supplemental coursework.
- we humbly share and scale insights from our work to families and schools who do not attend Astra Nova.*
*Conundrums, a video series of thought experiments to build reasoning and provoke constructive disagreement, is written and produced at Astra Nova. To date, 10,000,000+ students have experienced Conundrums through a partnership with ClassDojo.
*Synthesis is a leading venture-backed educational technology company that focuses on collaborative problem solving and building mathematical foundations. To date, 250,000+ students have enrolled in Synthesis.
III. Our Students
Astra Nova students are an international group, passionate about learning and eager to find ways to make any team they work on better. Astra Nova has a vibrant set of student-led clubs, competition teams, and events. Additionally, Astra Nova students are afforded a great deal of agency in determining the courses that best align with their interests and goals.
IV. Our Faculty
Astra Nova predominantly hires professionals working in their field of expertise. We expect faculty to confidently evaluate what matters most and design courses around these most critical skills. Our hypothesis is that those who are working at the cutting edge are best positioned to evaluate the learning that is most consequential going forward.
100% of our faculty hold the most advanced degree in their field and/or directly relevant professional experience.
V. Our Alumni
Ad Astra/Astra Nova’s oldest graduates are 23 years old as of October 2026. To date, we have at least one former student at the following schools:
- Caltech
- MIT
- Stanford
- Harvard
- Yale
- Princeton
- Brown
- Penn
- Northwestern
- US Naval Academy
- UCLA
- Berkeley
- UC Irvine
- UCSD
- UCSC
- RISD
We also have two former students currently employed at SpaceX.
VI. Grades
Astra Nova courses evaluate student performance by equally weighing a student’s [1] content mastery and [2] skill application. An overall grade is given by course.
- A
- Exceptional Work
- B
- Strong Work
- C
- Developing Work
- No Credit
VII. Graduation Requirements
All Astra Nova courses are taught at an advanced level. To graduate from Astra Nova, students must complete at least 8 concurrent courses per term for a total of 24 courses per year.
Additionally, Graduation Track students complete two INTENSIVES [academic in-person experiences] and one CORPORATE COLLABORATIVE [on-site work experience] each academic year.
VIII. Supernova Awards
Astra Nova gives out four (4) SUPERNOVA awards annually to high school students who achieve the highest level of distinction by the acclaim of the faculty. Students are eligible to win all four awards.
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SCIENCES
awarded for exceptional work in physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, experimentation, and scientific inquiry.
-
ENGINEERING
awarded for exceptional work in fabrication, robotics, product design, invention, and turning ideas into working things.
-
HUMANITIES
awarded for exceptional work in literature, philosophy, economics, politics, and ethics.
-
ART & DESIGN
awarded for exceptional work in creative endeavors rooted in human expression.
Courses & Experiences
All courses listed comprise TERM 1 of the 2026/2027 school year.
Subsequent terms will include more advanced UNIVERSITY and PROFESSIONAL coursework in addition to more FOUNDATIONAL courses.
Additionally, our Graduation Track students participate in two (2) in-person INTENSIVES and one (1) CORPORATE COLLABORATIVE each year. They are noted here.
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FOUNDATIONAL
Rigorous high school coursework focused on essential knowledge, skill development, and intellectual fluency.
-
UNIVERSITY
University-level study requiring students to engage with advanced concepts, methods, and primary materials with the depth and independence expected of undergraduates.
-
PROFESSIONAL
Professional-level work in which students apply disciplinary expertise to authentic problems, research, products, or projects using the standards, tools, and methods of practitioners in the field.
Term 1 Courses, 2026/2027Foundational level, by subject area
| Subject area | Foundational |
|---|---|
| Literature, Language & Ideas |
|
| History, Politics & Society |
|
| Mathematics & Modeling |
|
| Physics |
|
| Computing & Software |
|
| Life Sciences & Bioengineering |
|
| Engineering, Design & Systems |
|
| Communication, Enterprise & Influence |
|
On-Site Corporate Collaborative
| Year | Company | Location | Mission |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Starpath Robotics | El Segundo | Starpath designs and manufactures robotic propellant-production factories for the Moon and Mars, reducing the cost of deep-space transport and enabling humans to become a multiplanetary species. |
In-Person Intensives
| Year | Site | Location | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Yucca Valley Materials Lab | Yucca Valley, California | Students investigate local materials and desert conditions, then prototype and test a small-scale object, structure, or system shaped by the site’s environmental constraints. |
| 2027 | Computational London | London, England | Students explore the history of computing and build a working program or prototype. |
Racially Nondiscriminatory Policy as to Students: Astra Nova School admits students of any race, color, national, and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, and scholarship programs.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: Astra Nova School provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to employees and applicants. Employment at Astra Nova School is based solely on the person's merit and qualifications. We do not discriminate against any employee or applicant based on race, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, or any other basis protected by law.
Image Credits: Don Pettit, NASA. USGS. Tomoko Sato.
© 2026 Astra Nova School