What may look like green slime growing on a pond is what scientists call a microbial mat. Microbial mats are living examples of the most ancient biological communities on Earth. As Earth’s earliest ecosystems, they are important to understanding the history of life on our planet and are useful models for the search for life elsewhere.
During this episode of NASA Now students will learn about microbial mats and see how research into these mats is helping NASA scientists understand how microbes impact Earth, and how this information is used in the search for life elsewhere.
Link to this NASA Now episode (must be logged into the NES Virtual Campus)
Link to other NASA Now events (must be logged into the NES Virtual Campus)
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.
During this week’s NASA Now program, you’ll meet Michael Studinger, Project Scientist for Operation IceBridge. He’ll describe the purpose of the IceBridge campaign and how the campaign objectives will be met. He also explains why studying Earth’s ice is important for understanding climate changes and how they related to humans.
Check out part 2 of the NASA Now: A-Train series and learn how NASA uses a constellation of satellites called the A-Train to monitor the Earth system. Five NASA satellites comprise the A-Train. They fly over the same location on Earth within 15 minutes of each other collecting data about the current state of the components of the Earth system.
During this episode of NASA Now, you’ll meet NASA physical scientist Lin Chambers, learn about the role of clouds in the Earth’s energy and water cycles, and find out how NASA collects cloud data. Understanding the impact of clouds is an important key to predicting how Earth’s climate may change in the future. Currently, five Earth observing satellites, known as the “A-Train” orbit the Earth. These satellites orbit in formation, following each other and barrel across the equator at about 1:30 p.m. local time each day. This behavior gives the constellation of satellites its name: The “A” stands for afternoon. By combining different sets of nearly simultaneous observations from these satellites, scientists are able to study important parameters related to climate.
During this installment of NASA Now, NASA senior research engineer Judith Watson describes the project she’s currently working on. She’s one of a team of engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center who are studying inflatable structures that might one day be used to establish an outpost on the moon or Mars.
Spaced Out Sports is a national student design challenge for students in grades 5-8. The purpose is for students to apply Newton’s Laws of Motion to designing or redesigning a game for International Space Station astronauts to play in space. As students design a new sport, they learn about Newton’s Laws of Motion and the effect of gravity on an object. They predict the difference between a game or activity played on Earth and in the microgravity environment of the ISS. 
Someday YOU may one of the people to walk around on Mars. That’s some day in the future — way in the future. But here’s your chance to have a presence on Mars soon! Send your name to Mars! Your name will be included with others on a microchip attached to the rover, Curiosity. Launch is scheduled for between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011, with a Martian arrival date of August 2012.
It’s been a year since LCROSS heroically impacted the moon in search of water. The results of analysis of the impact of LCROSS on the moon have been in the news recently. You may have seen pieces on the news or read about water being discovered on the moon.