Send Your Name into Space with the Kepler Mission - Deadline November 1, 2008
Would you like to send your name into space? Submit your name as part of the Name in Space program at the SETI Kepler website. Submitted names will be stored on a DVD and rocketed into space on board the Kepler spacecraft. The deadline to submit your name is November 1, 2008. More information about the Kepler mission is available at the official NASA website.
Name in Space website: http://namesinspace.seti.org/
Kepler Mission website: http://kepler.nasa.gov/
Kepler is NASA’s first mission capable of detecting Earth-size and smaller planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. The spacecraft is planned to be launched from Kennedy Space Center in February 2009. The spacecraft will be launched into orbit around the Sun, not the Earth, with an orbital period of 372 days. The spacecraft will slowly drift away from the Earth, such that in about 25 years it will be half an Earth orbit away, 300 million kilometers distant from the Earth, passing behind the Sun as viewed from Earth.
Name in Space is an activity in association with the International Year of Astronomy 2009 and is an activity in recognition of the 400th anniversary of Kepler’s publication of his first two laws of planetary motion. Read more abou the International Year of Astronomy at http://www.astronomy2009.org/
Watch Live Online - Phoenix Lands On Mars - May 25, 2008
Join NASA and viewers from around the globe as the Phoenix Mars Lander descendes to the surface of the Red Planet on May 25, 2008. Live webcasts of the landing will begin around 3pm PST and continue until approximately 5pm.
The Phoenix Mars Lander will investigate a site in the far north of Mars. The mission will seek to answer questions about that part of Mars and help resolve broader questions about the planet. The key questions Phoenix will address concern water and conditions that could support life.
The Phoenix landing region has water ice in soil close to the surface, which NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter discovered for much of the high-latitude terrain in both the north and south hemispheres of Mars.
Phoenix will dig down to the icy layer. It will examine soil in place at the surface, at the icy layer and in between. It will scoop up samples for analysis by its onboard instruments. One key instrument will check for water and carbon-containing compounds by heating soil samples in tiny ovens and examining the vapors that are given off. Another will test soil samples by adding water and analyzing the dissolution products. Cameras and microscopes will provide information on scales spanning eight powers of 10, from features that could fit by the hundreds into the period at the end of this sentence to a survey of the landscape by a mast-mounted camera. A weather station will provide information about atmospheric processes in an arctic region where a coating of carbon-dioxide ice comes and goes with the seasons.
To read more about the Phoenix Mars Lander and to access a link to the live webcast, please visit the official NASA Phoenix website at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html
NASA INSPIRE Program Seeks Summer Counselors - Deadline May 30, 2008
The Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience, also known as INSPIRE, is seeking educators to supervise high school students during eight-week summer internships. Positions are available at several locations across the U.S. One counselor will be selected for each of the ten NASA Field Centers.
The position requires a professional educator to coordinate NASA INSPIRE activities within the NASA Center region. The INSPIRE Counselor will be the designated point of contact for INSPIRE participants at the assigned NASA Center. Training will be provided prior to the assignment.
The position requires a minimum of a four-year degree in science, mathematics and/or technology education, a valid teaching certificate, and a minimum of three years teaching experience in grades 6-12. A combination of teaching experience and NASA education experience is also acceptable. U.S. citizenship is required.
Counselors who are chosen will receive lodging and meals during the eight-week event, travel to and from the NASA field center, and a stipend of $5,800. Oklahoma State University graduate credit is also available to those who are interested. Applications are due May 30, 2008.
To learn more about this opportunity and how to apply, visit https://opportunities.nasa.okstate.edu/index.cfm?liftoff=applications.PositionDetails&JobPostingID=20
NASA’ s Office of Education - Development of a Massively Multiplayer Online Game - Proposals Due June 18, 2008
NASA’s Office of Education is seeking proposals for collaboration with an organization to enhance NASA’s ability to achieve its educational goals by creating and managing a Massively Multiplayer Online game. The goal of this game is to enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics education by combining NASA-based content that draws and holds young people’s attention with fun and challenging game play. The primary audience for this MMO game will be students from the middle school level through college.
This request will result in the establishment of a non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement (defined as one with no exchange of funds) that will define the full roles and responsibilities of NASA and the proposing organization. A follow on call for education experts to work with the project is expected in June 2008. Proposals are due June 18, 2008.
For more information about this opportunity, visit http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/synopsis.cgi?acqid=129682
