NASA Announces Design for New Deep Space Exploration System

Artist concept of launch of Space Launch SystemNASA is ready to move forward with the development of the Space Launch System — an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new national capability for human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. The Space Launch System will give the nation a safe, affordable and sustainable means of reaching beyond our current limits and opening up new discoveries from the unique vantage point of space.


For more information, a video and related educational materials for a variety of grade levels visit the NES feature page.




NASA Offers Shuttle Tiles and Space Food to Schools

Assorted dehydrated food packagesNASA is offering space shuttle heat shield tiles and dehydrated astronaut food to eligible schools and universities. The initiative is part of the agency’s efforts to preserve the Space Shuttle Program’s history and technology and inspire the next generation of space explorers, scientists and engineers.


The lightweight tiles protected the shuttles from extreme temperatures when the orbiters re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. The food, which was precooked or processed so that refrigeration is unnecessary, is ready to eat or could be prepared simply by adding water or by heating. Schools can register for a login ID and request a tile or food at: http://gsaxcess.gov/NASAWel.htm


Web Seminar for Teachers: Weather and Climate: Satellite Meteorology

Join NASA Explorer Schools and the National Science TeachersAssociation for a 90-minute webinar on Sept.8, 2011, at 6:30 p.m. EDT. Learn to use the data fromNASA’s research satellite program in their meteorology lessons. This webinarfeatures “Monitoring the Global Environment,” one of eight modules within theSatellite Meteorology course. Attendees will learn how to locate and downloadsatellite data, create graphs and learn how to interpret them.

Register: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES2/webseminar5.aspx

NASA Now: Forces and Motion: Aerobraking — Entry, Descent, and Landing

NASA Now logo

Available beginning Aug. 31, 2011: Jill Prince explains aerobraking, a technique used by NASA to reduce the amount of fuel required to slow down a spacecraft moving at high speed as it approaches a planet. 



NASA Now Preview

NASA Now: Phase Change and Forces of Flight: Aircraft Icing Research

Join NES in the Icing Research Tunnel at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, when aeromechanical engineer and icing specialist Judith VanZante gives a tour and explains how engineers apply simple concepts in physical science to create windy, cold and wet conditions for aircraft testing.


As you tour the IRT, you will learn how the speed of the wind is increased, how the extreme temperatures in the warm summer months are achieved, what forces act on an aircraft and how a pilot would deal with these forces in icing conditions.

Link to this NASA Now program (requires login to the NES Virtual Campus).


NASA Now Preview






Herschel Telescope Detects Oxygen Molecules in Space

Artist's concept of a collection of oxygen molecules superimposed over an image of the Orion nebula taken in infrared lightDetectors on the Herschel Space Observatory’s large telescope have provided the first confirmation of oxygen molecules in space. The molecules were detected within the Orion Nebula.

Individual atoms of oxygen are common in space but not molecular oxygen. Astronomers searched for the elusive molecules for decades using balloons, as well as ground- and space-based telescopes. The Swedish Odin telescope spotted the molecule in 2007, but the sighting could not be confirmed.

This information may be used with the NASA Explorer Schools activity, Genesis: What Are We Made Of? The Sun, Earth and You.

For more information about the NES Genesis activity, go to the activity page on the NES Virtual Campus. (requires log-in)

For more information on this topic, visit the Herschel website.

Link to the NES Virtual Campus participant’s home page.



Live Chat With NASA Cloud Scientist

Lin Chambers
NASA Explorer Schools invites all U.S. teachers and students to join us today at 2:00 p.m. EDT for a live video chat with Lin Chambers. Chambers is an atmospheric scientist and the director of the CERES S’COOL Project at NASA’s Langley Research Center. Clouds are an important part of our atmosphere, and scientists are studying how they affect our weather and climate. She will talk about the effect clouds have on the Earth’s climate and will answer student questions about the role of clouds in the Earth’s energy and water cycles, and the benefits of participating in real-world atmospheric research through the S’COOL Project. 

Chambers developed the Students’ Cloud Observations On-Line project, also known as S’COOL. S’COOL involves students in making ground truth observations of clouds for comparison with satellite data. The project is beneficial to both scientists and students. Scientists benefit from the use of student observations to help validate the CERES measurements. Students benefit from their participation in a real-world science experiment.

GAVRT Lesson Idea

Radio telescopeAfter attending the NASA Explorer Schools Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope Summer Experience, educators Kaci Hines, Cheryl May, Nancy Guillory and Donna Rand created a lesson that allows their students to control the GAVRT telescope from their classroom. Their lesson challenges students to determine the temperature of Jupiter by using the telescope. Three major tasks are involved in manipulating the telescope and acquiring accurate data: calibrating, scanning and recording data. Their lesson divides students into three separate groups to let each group learn the different tasks required to operate the telescope.

For more information and images, go to the NES GAVRT event page in Facebook or the GAVRT article in NEON.


The Force Is Strong With NASA's Smartphone-Powered Satellites

SPHERE Satellites on the ISSHow can robots help humans live and work in space?  NASA is studying that right now!
 
SPHERES are independent spacecraft able to complete tasks for astronauts; these little spacecraft can fly inside and, in the future, outside the space station to help complete essential tasks. NASA connected each SPHERE to a smartphone that gives them SPHERE camera capabilities, sensors to help conduct inspections, a computing unit to make calculations and Wi-Fi.