Non-profit online school Astra Nova, derived from SpaceX's experimental school Ad Astra, opens new application period
Astra Nova opens new applications for ages 11 to 18
The non-profit online school Astra Nova, derived from SpaceX's experimental school Ad Astra, has opened a new application period, with a deadline of October 15, 2026, for students aged approximately 11 to 18. Admission results will be announced by December 15, and classes will start on January 4, 2027. Applications are free.
The assessment does not consider standardized test scores. Students choose one "difficult question" to answer and upload a 30-second to 2-minute video or audio explaining their reasoning process. The question pool includes: Should we reply to a message from aliens? Does a robot winning a world championship count as a champion? Parents must submit a one-page family letter. About half of the applicants will advance to the next round, with group interviews on November 1.
Tuition is charged based on weekly class hours, with middle and high school rates the same for the 2026-2027 academic year: $4,800 for 2 hours per week, $9,600 for 3 to 4 hours, $14,400 for 5 to 7 hours, $24,000 for 8 to 11 hours, $31,200 for 12 to 15 hours, and $36,000 for 16 hours or more. Offline immersive activities will be charged separately at cost. The school claims to cover proven financial aid gaps as needed.
Classes are conducted live in English, with class sizes typically ranging from 6 to 16 students, coming from about 45 countries. There are currently about 315 middle school students. The high school program lasts 3 to 4 years, with enrollment starting in August 2026. The school was founded by Josh Dahn and Elon Musk in 2014 at the Hawthorne rocket factory campus as Ad Astra and transitioned to a non-profit organization, Astra Nova, in 2020.
In terms of market mechanism, the paying families are those willing to pay high prices for small class live streaming and ethical reasoning courses, while the limited spots and offline workshop slots are sold. The event is driven by the enrollment window, with funds from tuition entering non-profit operations and financial aid pools; beneficiaries are applicants who can demonstrate their reasoning process through video to advance to the next round, while families face the pressure of covering tuition fees and producing video evidence of their children's reasoning process.
Source: Public information
ABAB AI Insight
This school has transformed its entrance exam into a public ethical dilemma. Whether to reply to aliens or if a robot counts as a champion tests not knowledge, but the child's ability to articulate their stance on camera. After the experimental class at the SpaceX factory spilled over into global Zoom classrooms, scarcity shifted from "attending school next to the rocket factory" to "being able to articulate first principles in a timecode."
The capital path consists of tuition fees plus offline costs. The $36,000 cap on annual online tuition is close to the entry price of a U.S. private day school, not including onsite workshops. The financial aid commitment leaves price discrimination to material review, not application fees. Money flows from high-income families' education spending into small class teachers and course production, then returns in the form of financial aid to families calculated by Clarity.
Comparable institutions include Minerva University’s global rotation, Khan Academy's remote degrees, and experimental classes for employees' children at Silicon Valley companies. K12 is at a stage where "prestigious school degrees are insufficient, and thinking tests can be recorded": with standardized tests removed, the selection mechanism has changed to shareable ethical short films. Musk withdrew his children from conventional schools, leaving behind a replicable enrollment ritual, not replicable factory seats.
Structurally, this represents a transfer of pricing power. The mechanism is: when degrees are no longer tied to location and school districts, pricing power shifts to institutions that can define "what constitutes thinking." Video questions lower geographical barriers but raise expression barriers. What is expensive is not Zoom, but the recognized performance of reasoning.
ABAB News · Laws of Cognition
Once standardized tests are removed, the examination room will become a recording.
Experimental classes can spill over, but factory seats cannot.
Lowering geographical barriers often raises expression barriers.