NASA “Science WOW!” Message — Jan. 17, 2018

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Science Always Starts With a Question …


This Week’s Question: What Is Earth’s Atmosphere?

Earth’s atmosphere is like a jacket for the planet. It keeps us warm, it gives us oxygen to breathe, and it’s where our weather happens. Find out more about the different layers that make up this important part of our planet!

In English — https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/atmosphere/en/
In Spanish — https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/atmosphere/sp/


Have You Seen This?


Two new satellites are set to launch this year to help NASA study the ionosphere.

The GOLD instrument is set to launch on Jan. 25, and the ICON instrument will launch later in 2018. Find out more about this dynamic duo and why studying the ionosphere is important for everyday life on Earth.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/two-heads-are-better-than-one-icon-gold-teaming-up-to-explore-earths-interface-to-space


Opportunities for Future Scientists of All Ages


  • 2018 von Kármán Lecture — Explorer 1’s 60th Anniversary: A Celebration of Six Decades of Earth Science Discoveries
  • Free Program — Cubes in SpaceTM
  • Help NASA Find New Planetary Systems — Become a Disk Detective!

Science Opportunities for Educators of Grades K-12


  • Free Webinar — Parachuting on Mars: Developing Crosscutting Breakthrough Technologies
  • **NEW** Free Education Webinars From NASA Educator Professional Development
  • Free Education Workshops From NASA Stennis Space Center Office of Education

Science Opportunities for Higher Education and Informal Institutions


  • 2018 Lunar and Planetary Institute’s Exploration Science Summer Intern Program
  • 2018-2019 NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowships
  • **NEW** FAQs, Amendment Posted: Call for Proposals — NASA Research Announcement for NASA Teams Engaging Affiliated Museums and Informal Institutions (TEAM II)

Opportunities for Future Scientists of All Ages


2018 von Kármán Lecture Series — Attend in Person or View Online
Audience: All Educators; Students in Grades 9-12 and Higher Education
Next Lecture Date: Jan. 25 and 26, 2018, at 7 p.m. PST (10 p.m. EST)

The Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series, named after the founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and presented by JPL’s Office of Communication and Education, shares the excitement of the space program’s missions, instruments and other technologies.

Lectures take place twice per month, on consecutive Thursdays and Fridays. The Thursday lectures take place in JPL’s Theodore von Kármán Auditorium, and Friday lectures take place at Pasadena City College’s Vosloh Forum. Both start at 7 p.m. PST (10 p.m. EST). Admission and parking are free for all lectures. No reservations are required, but seating is limited. The Thursday evening lectures are streamed live for viewing online. Archives of past lectures are also available online.

Next Lecture in the Series:

Explorer 1’s 60th Anniversary: A Celebration of Six Decades of Earth Science Discoveries
Event Date:
Jan. 25 and 26, 2018, at 7 p.m. PST (10 p.m. EST)
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures_archive.php?year=2018&month=1
The Explorer 1 satellite marked the start of the Space Age for the United States. For the world, it heralded the study of Earth from space. Join NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory documentarian Blaine Baggett and historian Dr. Erik Conway as they go on a multimedia journey from the dawn of Earth science exploration to today’s modern fleet of satellites dedicated to studying our home planet.

For more information about the Theodore von Kármán Lecture Series, including a complete list of upcoming lectures, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures.php.

Questions about this series should be directed to http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/contact_JPL.php.


Free Program — Cubes in SpaceTM
Audience: Students Ages 11-18 and Educator Mentors
Registration Deadline: Feb. 2, 2018

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and Langley Research Center, along with the Colorado Space Grant Consortium and idoodledu, inc., are offering a free STEAM education program for students ages 11-18. Cubes in Space lets students design and compete to launch an experiment into space. Selected student-designed payload cubes will be launched via a sounding rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, in late June 2018 or from a high-altitude scientific balloon from NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in New Mexico in late August 2018.

Registration closes on Feb. 2, 2018. For more information, visit http://www.cubesinspace.com/.

Please direct questions about this opportunity to info@cubesinspace.com.


Help NASA Find New Planetary Systems — Become a Disk Detective!
Audience: All Educators and Students
Project Timeframe: Now Through 2018

Help NASA find new disks, homes of extrasolar planets, by classifying images from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope and other observatories. In this citizen science project, you’ll view animated images of disk candidates and classify them, distinguishing good candidates from galaxies, asteroids and image artifacts. This project, suitable for elementary students through expert adults, will yield targets for the James Webb Space Telescope and publications in professional scientific literature.

This project is ongoing and expected to run through 2018. For more information and to start hunting for planets, visit http://www.diskdetective.org/.

Questions about this opportunity should be directed to Marc Kuchner at marc.j.kuchner@nasa.gov.


Science Opportunities for Educators of Grades K-12


Free Webinar — Parachuting on Mars: Developing Crosscutting Breakthrough Technologies
Audience: 5-8 Educators
Event Date: Jan. 17, 2018, at 6 p.m. EST

Join NASA’s Beginning Engineering, Science and Technology, or BEST, educators for a free 60-minute educator professional development webinar. Learn how NASA is developing large, sturdy and lightweight systems to deliver the next generation of rovers and landers to Mars. Using NASA’S BEST engineering design process, participants will design a prototype of new drag devices to potentially land humans, habitats and rovers safely on Mars.

For more information and to register to participate, visit https://nasabest-epd.eventbrite.com.

Please send questions about this opportunity to afrc-nasabestedu@mail.nasa.gov.


Free Education Webinars From NASA Educator Professional Development
Audience: In-service, Pre-service, Home School and Informal Educators

The NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative at Texas State University is presenting a series of free webinars open to all educators. Join NASA education specialists to learn about activities, lesson plans, educator guides and resources that bring NASA into your classroom. Registration is required to participate. To register, simply click on the link provided beneath the webinar description.

NASA Spotlites — Science by Students for Students
Audience:
K-12, Informal and Pre-service Educators
Event Date: Jan. 17, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. EST
Learn about a problem-based activity in which students produce NASA Spotlite videos. These 90- to 120-second videos are written, filmed, edited and produced by students using the engineering design process. Each video targets a misconception about science. All steps of creating a Spotlite video can be done using cell phones, tablets and laptops.
https://www.eiseverywhere.com/296985

NASA Aeronautics: Elementary Balloons and Kites
Audience:
K-5, Informal and Pre-service Educators
Event Date: Jan. 18, 2018, at 5 p.m. EST
Learn how to use aeronautic teaching guides to teach STEAM lessons that incorporate children’s literature and art. By using popular children’s books, students are engaged in the cross-cutting principles and the science and engineering process skills of the Next Generation Science Standards.
https://www.eiseverywhere.com/302503

**NEW** How NASA Plans to Get Humans Back to the Moon
Audience:
K-12, Informal and Pre-service Educators
Event Date: Jan. 22, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. EST
Learn about plans for an upcoming mission to the Moon. It’s been 45 years since a crewed spacecraft flew to the Moon. NASA plans to do it again in just a few years. The mission will take about 25.5 days, and its highlight will be putting the spacecraft in a lunar orbit that will take it farther from Earth than any other crewed spacecraft has been.
https://www.eiseverywhere.com/295063

**NEW** NASA Aeronautics: Speed of Sound
Audience:
K-12, Informal and Pre-service Educators
Event Date: Jan. 23, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. EST
Learn about motions and forces, transfer of energy, and technological design, including ways NASA reduces or eliminates aircraft noise. Explore the physics of sound, including how certain variables can affect the speed of sound. Learn about hands-on experiments and physical demonstrations to connect this research in the classroom.
https://www.eiseverywhere.com/304106

**NEW** NASA Aeronautics: Flying in Our Atmosphere
Audience:
5-9, Informal and Pre-service Educators
Event Date: Jan. 25, 2018, at 6 p.m. EST
Explore the NASA “How High Is It?” lesson guide. Investigate online resources that create scale models of our atmosphere. Models include the layers of Earth’s atmosphere and altitudes of NASA aircraft, spacecraft, and natural and artificial satellites. Develop number sense by representing scale factors in terms of ratios, decimals and percentages.
https://www.eiseverywhere.com/304376

For a full schedule of upcoming NASA Educator Professional Development webinars, visit http://www.txstate-epdc.net/events/.

Questions about this series of webinars should be directed to Steve Culivan at stephen.p.culivan@nasa.gov.


Free Education Workshops From NASA Stennis Space Center Office of Education
Audience: In-Service, Pre-service, Home School and Informal STEM Educators

The NASA Stennis Space Center Office of Education is presenting a series of free workshops open to all educators. All workshops will take place at the Infinity Science Center in Pearlington, Mississippi. (map) Registration is required to participate. Each workshop is limited to 30 participants. To register, simply click on the link provided beneath the webinar description.

Network of States Lunar Sample / Robotics EV3 EPD Workshop
Audience: NASA Network of States Educators Phase 2, and In-service STEM Educators of Grades 5-12 Interested in Joining the NASA Network of States Educator Institute
Registration Deadline: Jan. 22, 2018 (maximum of 50 participants)
Event Date: Jan. 27, 2018, 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. CST
Join the Stennis Space Center Office of Education for a free workshop on the use and security of lunar and meteorite sample disks. Learn about hands-on activities designed to integrate use of the sample disks into curricula. Participants will be certified to borrow lunar and meteorite sample disks from NASA for the classroom. The workshop will include a short follow-up training session on EV3 robotics.
https://www.eiseverywhere.com/276901

International Space Station: Beyond the Classroom
Audience: Educators of Grades 4-8
Registration Deadline: Feb. 4, 2018 (maximum of 30 participants)
Event Date: Feb. 8, 2018, 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. CST
Explore ways to integrate the International Space Station into your STEM, arts and social studies instruction. Participants also will learn about the Year of Education on Station — two former classroom teachers, now astronauts, spending a combined year in space delivering STEM activities related to the space station.
https://www.eiseverywhere.com/298599

For a full schedule of upcoming educator workshops, visit https://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/education/educators/workshops.html.

Questions about this series of webinars should be directed to April McIntosh at april.l.mcintosh@nasa.gov.


Opportunities for Higher Education and Informal Institutions


2018 Lunar and Planetary Institute’s Exploration Science Summer Intern Program
Audience: Graduate Students
Application Deadline: Jan. 19, 2018
Join the Lunar and Planetary Institute for a 10-week program for graduate students in geology, planetary science, planetary astronomy and related programs. Learn how to integrate scientific input with exploration activities in a way that mission architects and spacecraft engineers can use. Activities will support missions to the Moon that use the Orion crew vehicle, the Deep Space Gateway and robotic assets on the lunar surface.

Interns will receive stipends and travel expense reimbursement. Applications are due Jan. 19, 2018.

For more information, visit https://www.lpi.usra.edu/exploration_intern/.

Please direct questions about this opportunity to explorationintern@lpi.usra.edu.


2018-2019 NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowships
Audience: Higher Education Educators and Students
Proposal Deadline: Feb. 1, 2018

The NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship program is accepting proposals for the 2018-2019 academic year. Applications must be from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of individuals pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees in Earth and space sciences, or related disciplines.

NASA will award training grants to the respective universities, with the advisor serving as principal investigator. The maximum NESSF award is $45,000 per year.

Proposals are due Feb. 1, 2018. For information, visit https://go.nasa.gov/2AsHckq.

Questions about Earth Science Research NESSF opportunities should be directed to Claire Macaulay at Claire.I.Macaulay@nasa.gov.

Questions about Heliophysics Research, Planetary Science Research and Astrophysics Research opportunities should be directed to Marian Norris at mnorris@nasa.gov.


Check out the ‘Explore NASA Science’ website!
Science starts with questions, leading to discoveries. Explore the redesigned NASA Science site and send us feedback. Visit  https://science.nasa.gov. To view the site in Spanish, visit http://ciencia.nasa.gov.

Don’t miss out on upcoming NASA education opportunities.
For a full list of events, opportunities and more, visit the Educators and Students Current Opportunity pages on NASA’s website:
— Educators http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/current-opps-index.html
— Students http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/current-opps-index.html

Are you looking for NASA educational materials to support your STEM curriculum?
Search hundreds of resources by subject, grade level, type and keyword at http://www.nasa.gov/education/resources/.

Find NASA science resources for your classroom.
NASA Wavelength is a digital collection of Earth and space science resources for educators of all levels — from elementary to college, to out-of-school programs. http://nasawavelength.org/

Take Part in a Year of Education on Station
September 2017 – September 2018: Although on different crews, astronauts Joe Acaba and Ricky Arnold — both former teachers — will work aboard the International Space Station. Visit NASA’s A Year of Education on Station website for out-of-this-world resources and opportunities for K-16 students and educators.

Visit NASA Education on the web:
NASA Office of Education: http://www.nasa.gov/education
For Educators: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/index.html
For Students: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/index.html
NASA Kids’ Club: http://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub

Did you miss last week’s NASA Science WOW! newsletter?
Visit the Science WOW! blog for an archive of previous messages.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/educationsciencewow/