The Stats: My Mobile Planetarium's First Year

2024 was the first year of Plateau Astro's mobile planetarium. I'm thrilled with the response that it received.

Students loved the experience inside of the dome. Teachers loved they could just walk to the gymnasium to do the activity. And I'm certain school boards loved how cost-effective it was.

In this brief post, I want to outline how many shows I did, how many students I was able to reach, and a few other fun statistics.

Want to book a show? I'm now taking bookings for 2025. Learn more here!

Six months of Operation

Important to note: my first show was on February 14, 2024 and my last show was August 5, 2024. So this is only six months of operation, because I'm on paternity leave until January 2025. 

OK, let's get into the stats...

The Stats

• Students: 1652
• Shows: 91
• Installations: 13

In one sentence: I set up the planetarium 13 times, did 91 half-hour shows, and presented to 1652 students.

Locations

• Montréal, QC: 9
• Terrebonne, QC: 1
• Maniwaki, QC: 1
• Russell, ON: 2

Most of my shows were in Montréal. But I was fortunate to be asked to do shows in remote locations, such as Maniwaki where it is insanely cost-prohibitive to bus kids to a planetarium. This is where having the show brought to the school really shines.

Types of Clients

• Schools: 7
• Summer camp / youth group : 5
• Fundraiser: 1

Most shows were for schools, but a good chunk were for libraries and summer camps.

Language

• French: 50%
• English: 50%

This is a rough estimate, but my hunch is that the language divide was 50-50. I'll try to keep better stats for 2025.

Cost per Student

In 2024, I charged a $400 installation fee and $100 per half-hour show.

There's some variation in each installation, but a typical day was around 6 shows and around 120 students total. Broken down:

• $400 fee
• $100 * 6 shows = $600
• Total: $1000
• $1000 / 120 students = $8.33 / student

So, less than $8.50 CAD per student for an immersive on-site experience at my 2024 rate.

Time-Savings

Another cost to consider is time saving. With the mobile planetarium, I set up in the school gymnasium and each class comes in. There's no school bus to march into, no long off-site road trip, no losing students along the way, etc...

Astronauts Who Visited Planetarium

• Astronauts: 1

Yes! I have to mention this. On June 20 at the Westmount Public Library, the TD Summer Reading Club was launched. I set up my planetarium for the day, and Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau was also there, reading from Chris Hadfield's book, The Darkest Dark.

Although Mr Garneau didn't enter the planetarium (he had to get going), I did prepare a short video of clips from his missions in space. The kids thought it was really cool seeing footage of young Mr Garneau floating in zero-g.

The Future

I had no idea how this experiment would go. But reading these numbers, I'm thrilled.

For early 2025, I'll still be taking care of our newborn, so won't be all-gas, no brakes. But I do plan to increase the number of installations, parenthood permitting.

I also plan on doing public shows catered to a more mature audience. I like to think of these as kinda like my workshops, but done in a cozy, immersive environment. I'm on the search for affordable venues and some comfy bean bag chairs. 

I will also be writing separate blog posts on how I set up my planetarium: the hardware, the software, and the experience. Look for that coming soon.

Book a Show for 2025

I'm now taking bookings for 2025.

Please read about the planetarium, shows I am currently offering, and send me a message on each pages contact form, or by emailing me at info@plateauastro.com.