NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building Prepared for Multiple Rockets

Vehicle Assembly BuildingThe Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is undergoing renovations to accommodate future launch vehicles. Space shuttle-era work platforms have been removed and accommodations are being made to support a variety of future spacecraft, including NASA’s Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket. The changes are part of a centerwide modernization and refurbishment initiative in preparation for the next generation of human spaceflight.

One of the largest buildings in the world, the VAB was constructed in the mid-1960s to support stacking of the Apollo Saturn V rockets that took American astronauts to the moon. In the late 1970s, the facility was refurbished to accommodate the space shuttle.

To read more about this renovation, visit https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/ground/vab_platforms_removed.html.

This article serves as a good extension to the NASA Explorer Schools featured lesson, Linear Regression: Exploring Space Through Math—Space Shuttle Ascent. To access this lesson, first log into the NES Virtual Campus home page.

Professional Development Web Seminar: Engineering Design Challenge — Spacecraft Structures

Professional Development Web Seminar

As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences for educators, the NASA Explorer Schools project and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a 90-minute live professional development Web seminar for educators on Nov. 14, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. EST. Learn how to incorporate the excitement of rocketry into your classroom during this Web seminar and receive an overview of the student engineering design challenge, Spacecraft Structures, where students design and construct a strong, but lightweight, structure that can withstand the launch of a water bottle “rocket.”

This Web seminar will be repeated on Mar. 20, 2013.

For more information and to register online, visit http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES3/webseminar14.aspx.

Professional Development Web Seminar: High Power Microscopes — The Virtual Lab

Professional Development Web Seminar

As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences, the NASA Explorer Schools project and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a 90-minute Web seminar for educators on Nov. 13, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. EST. Learn to use a computer program simulating three high-power virtual microscopes: an atomic force microscope, a scanning electron microscope and a fluorescence light microscope. Viewing specimens include one-celled organisms, human tissue, computer chips, insects and fungi. You will get an overview of the software, watch videos of students exploring specimens and learn to use the Virtual Lab website and software.


For more information and to register online, visit http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES3/webseminar13.aspx.

Spot the International Space Station from your own Backyard

Spot the StationDid you know you may be able see the International Space Station from your home? As the third brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon, the space station is easy to see if you know where and when to look for it.

NASA’s Spot the Station service sends you an email or text message a few hours before the space station passes over your house. The space station looks like a fast-moving plane in the sky, though one with people living and working aboard it more than 200 miles above the ground. It is best viewed on clear nights.

For more information and to sign up for alerts, visit Spot The Station.

This opportunity is a great extension to NASA Now: The Mechanics of Solar Panels. To access this episode of the Emmy Award winning NASA Now series, log into the NES Virtual Campus.

NASA Rover Finds Clues to Changes in Mars' Atmosphere

NASA’s car-sized rover, Curiosity, has taken significant steps toward understanding how Mars may have lost much of its original atmosphere.

Read more about Curiosity by visiting https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20121102.html.

To learn about the engineering and challenges involved in getting Curiosity to Mars, check out four special Mars Month episodes of NASA Now on the NASA Explorer Schools Virtual Campus. Stream or download these videos from http://explorerschools.nasa.gov.

Professional Development Web Seminar: Algebraic Equations — Calculator Controlled Robots

Professional Development Web Seminar

As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences, the NASA Explorer Schools project and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a 90-minute Web seminar on Nov. 7, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. EST. Discover a unique way of integrating robotic technology into your algebra classes. Robotic missions engage students and provide a unique way of bringing to life the concepts you are teaching. Learn to use programmable Texas Instruments, or TI, calculators and Norland Research Robots to solve problems requiring substituting values for variables in formulas.


This seminar provides an overview of using robotics in algebra so you can make an informed decision about purchasing the robots and other equipment. You do not need to have a Norland Research Robot or programmable TI calculator to participate in this seminar, or know how to program the calculator.


For more information, visit the online registration page.


Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.


Video Chat: Space Shuttle Atlantis Roll Over Celebration

Video chatNASA’s Digital Learning Network and NASA Explorer Schools are hosting a special event and video chat on Nov. 2, 2012, at 1 p.m. EDT to commemorate the departure of space shuttle Atlantis. DLN hosts Rachel Power and Joshua Santora will broadcast live from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as space shuttle Atlantis is transferred from the Vehicle Assembly Building to its permanent home at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

The “Roll Over” celebration will feature special guests including NASA Administrator and astronaut Charles Bolden, members of the space shuttle’s processing team and members of the team responsible for the design of the new home for Atlantis, who will answer student questions, as time permits.

The chat will be live on the NES Virtual Campus. Up to 15 minutes prior to the start of the chat, go to the event page and click on the big red “join chat” button. Student questions can be submitted by typing them in the chat window, or through Twitter by tagging the tweet with #NESChat, or by emailing them to NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov. Include the student’s name, grade and school name.

New Study Updates Status of Nearby Exoplanet

A second look at data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is reanimating the claim that the nearby star Fomalhaut hosts a massive exoplanet. The study suggests that the planet, named Fomalhaut b, is a rare and possibly unique object that is completely shrouded by dust.

This article is a great extension for the NASA Explorer Schools lesson, Algebraic Equations: Transit Tracks—Finding Habitable Planets. Access this lesson after logging in to the NES Virtual Campus.

To read more about Fomalhaut’s exoplanet, visit https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/fomalhaut-exo.html.

First Two Webb Telescope Flight Mirrors Delivered to NASA

Thefirst two of the 18 primary mirrors to fly aboard NASA’s James Webb SpaceTelescope arrived at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The mirrors are going through receiving and inspection and will then be storedin the Goddard cleanroom until engineers are ready to assemble them onto thetelescope’s backplane structure that will support them.


To read more and see a video of themirrors’ arrival, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/webb-tech-mirrors-delivered.html.

This information is a great extension to the NASAExplorer Schools live video chat with Dr. John Mather, a Nobel Prize winningAstrophysicist working with James Webb. Watch the archived video of thischat on the NES Virtual Campus.

Professional Development Web Seminar: My Angle on Cooling

Professional Development Web Seminar

As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences, the NASA Explorer Schools and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a 90-minute Web seminar called Heat Transfer: MESSENGER — My Angle on Cooling on Nov 1, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Learn how the MESSENGER mission to Mercury takes advantage of passive cooling methods to keep the spacecraft functioning in a high-temperature environment. You will also see how to use the mission’s Staying Cool activities to lead students through an examination of different solutions to the problem of how to deal with too much sunlight and energy.


This seminar will be repeated on Mar. 21, 2013.


For more information visit the registration page.


Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.