NASA, in conjunction with TopCoder Inc. and researchers from Harvard Business School and London Business School, has kicked off an experimental programming competition. The competition is aimed at developing algorithms that optimize medical kits for long-duration human space exploration.
Competitors will develop algorithms to help NASA’s flight surgeons make decisions involved with optimizing the contents of the medical supplies kit that may one day be carried on board long-term space missions. Submissions will be compared with the results of an existing computer model that has simulated the expected medical occurrences and outcomes for various mission scenarios.
Registration for the event closes on Oct. 28, 2009. The online competition runs Nov. 4-14, 2009. The competition is open to all TopCoder members but will be limited to 480 members. More than $24,000 in cash and prizes is at stake.
For full registration information and rules, visit http://www.topcoder.com/nasacontest
TopCoder is a competitive software development community with more than 220,000 developers representing more than 200 countries that offers competition-based development using a unique model of open innovation.
Filed under: Competitions, Cool Science, Educational Materials, Educator Kit, Engineering, K-12, NASA, STEM, Science, Student Opportunities
NASA is inviting students in grades 5-8 to participate in the Waste Limitation Management and Recycling Design Challenge. The challenge uses real-world scenarios that meet science and mathematics content standards. Students can participate in a formal, informal or home-school setting.
Teams of up to six students will design a water recycling system for the unique environment of the moon. Teams will then test their system on a simulated wastewater stream. Proposals and results are due Feb. 1, 2010.
The winning teams will be announced in May 2010. The top three teams will receive awards. The first place team will receive an expense-paid trip to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the winning team’s visit to Kennedy, students will gain firsthand knowledge about NASA’s missions, receive behind-the-scenes tours of NASA’s launch facilities, and learn about future aerospace and engineering careers.
For more information and contest rules, please visit http://wlmr.nasa.gov/
On Oct. 28, 2009, Dr. Jay Garland will be hosting a webcast tutorial for educators on the WLMR design challenge from 4-5 pm EDT. The presentation will provide an overview of the contest objectives and schedule, demonstrate methods students will use to create and analyze the wastewater, and answer questions from the audience. The webcast can be accessed at http://dln.nasa.gov
Also available online is the Waste Limitation Management and Recycling Design Challenge Educator Guide. This guide is a starting point for middle school students to research and answer the challenging questions of how to maintain human habitations on the moon and other planets in the solar system. The guide focuses specifically on the need for water recycling. The guide includes background information on topics relating to the moon, Earth’s water cycle and water recycling. Several basic classroom activities on water recycling are also included.
The guide is available for downloading at http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/WLMR_Guide.html
Filed under: Astronomy, Cool Science, Higher Education, K-12, STEM, Science, Student Opportunities, Webcasts
YouTube viewers have the opportunity to “Ask a Nobel Laureate” a question via the Internet. NASA Astrophysicist John Mather, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2006, is the first Nobel Laureate to participate with Nobelprize.org, the official Web site of the Nobel Foundation, and he will answer a selection of video questions uploaded onto YouTube.
Nobelprize.org manages TheNobelPrize YouTube channel and disseminates content from their archives gathered since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901. Mather is the first NASA researcher to receive the Nobel Prize, which he received with George Smoot for their discoveries regarding the echoes of the Big Bang – providing extraordinary glimpses of the beginning of the universe.
Questions must be submitted by Oct. 30, 2009. John Mather will post video responses to a selection of questions shortly after.
To participate online and see questions that have already been submitted, visit http://www.youtube.com/thenobelprize
For more information about John Mather and his discovery, visit http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2006/index.html
Filed under: Cool Science, K-12, NASA, STEM, Science, Student Opportunities, Webcasts
Cassini scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California will answer questions about Saturn from students who entered the Cassini Scientist for a Day essay contest.
This live event will air on the “NASAJPL” channel on Ustream TV (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasajpl) on Oct. 20, 2009, beginning at noon PDT (3 p.m. EDT). This program will also be archived for later viewing.
More information on the Cassini mission is available at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini
Filed under: Astronomy, Cool Science, Higher Education, K-12, NASA, Science, Student Opportunities, Teacher Opportunities, Webcasts
NASA invites students and faculty to an internet chat with Peter Schultz, co-investigator with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission. NASA’s LCROSS, which is searching for water ice in the Cabeus A crater near the moon’s south pole, culminated with two lunar impacts on Oct. 9, 2009. Schultz is also involved with two other NASA missions: Stardust-NExT and Deep Impact eXtended Investigation. To learn more about Peter Schultz and his career, please visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/centers/kennedy/technology/schultz_peter.html.
The chat will begin at 2 p.m. EDT on Oct. 15, 2009, at http://ESMDSpaceGrantProject.universitywebchat.com/chat9385/.
The chat room will not be available until 5 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. There are 100 slots available that will be filled on a first come/first serve basis.
Participants are encouraged to submit questions ahead of time to Mandi.C.Falconer@nasa.gov. Questions about the activities surrounding LCROSS can also be asked during the chat.
For more information about the mission, visit the NASA mission page at http://www.nasa.gov/lcross. You can also follow the mission on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LCROSS_NASA and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/LCROSS-Lunar-Impactor-Mission/154478180006
Filed under: Astronomy, Cool Science, NASA, STEM, Science, Teacher Opportunities
Do you love space? Are you adept at sharing your love of the stars with the public? If so, here’s a chance to join a growing network of space enthusiasts who have volunteered as NASA Solar System Ambassadors. Ambassadors from the states of Delaware and North Dakota especially are needed to represent those states.
The application period is being extended through Oct. 16, 2009. Ambassadors are U.S. citizens selected from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, or U.S. citizens serving U.S. audiences abroad. The program is one of the longest-running NASA volunteer outreach projects.
Each ambassador receives online training from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and educational materials supplied by various space missions, such as the next Mars rover — Curiosity. Curiosity will check to see whether Mars has been favorable for supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of life. The rover is scheduled to launch in October 2011.
To apply as a NASA Solar System Ambassador, visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/ssa.cfm
For more information about the Solar System Ambassador Program, visit http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html
A calendar of events hosted by ambassadors is available at http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/events.html
Filed under: Aeronautics, Astronomy, Cool Science, K-12, NASA, STEM, Science, Student Opportunities, Teacher Opportunities
During the week of Nov. 16-20, 2009, students in grades K-8 are invited to re-discover the remarkable accomplishment of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Forty years have passed since this momentous event. To celebrate, NASA’s Digital Learning Network will deliver a daily videoconference that explores a single NASA center’s contribution to Apollo 11. These programs will also feature an in-studio NASA employee who had a special connection with Apollo 11. Student participation and interaction with the DLN host and NASA expert are assured.
Note: All programs are scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m. CST and end at 1:00 p.m. CST.
Nov. 16, 2009 — Langley Research Center
Learn how a young engineer convinced his boss that lunar exploration would only be possible if something called Lunar Orbit Rendezvous was used as the passageway to the moon.
Nov. 17, 2009 — Marshall Spaceflight Center
Learn how a rocket taller than the Statue of Liberty was constructed for peaceful space exploration and why its presence tipped the scale of the space race in favor of the U.S.
Nov. 18, 2009 — Kennedy Space Center
Discover America’s spaceport, the site where the Apollo 11 astronauts made their final preparations before counting down to the launch of the fastest vehicle human have ever ridden in — the Saturn V rocket.
Nov. 19, 2009 — Johnson Space Center
Learn more about the home of the astronaut corps and take a peek inside the Mission Control Center, where a room called the “FCR 2” was the setting for communication with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins as they were zooming towards the moon.
Nov. 20, 2009 — Ames Research Center
NASA expects to travel to the moon again in the next decade. Learn how this will take place through a new NASA program called Constellation.
Registration
To participate in this program, your school must have videoconferencing capabilities. For more information on technical requirements, visit http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/content/techinfo/
If you would like to be placed on the “we’re interested” list for this free program, please reply to jsc-dislearn@mail.nasa.gov . Please respond no later than close of business on Oct. 14, 2009.
When replying, the subject line must be: Apollo 11 40th Anniversary.
Please include the following information in your message:
• Your name
• Your school e-mail
• Your school’s telephone number
• Your school’s name
• Your school’s city
• Your school’s state
• Your school’s technical point of contact
• Technical POC’s work telephone
• Technical POC’s work e-mail
• Student grade levels
• Anticipated number of participating students
• Date/time of preferred participation
Additional Opportunity
Would you like to challenge your students to exercise their bodies and minds? The DLN has designed a fun activity that incorporates fitness and math! “Walk to the Moon” encourages students to count their steps around their homes and schools to reach a goal of 250,000. Each step will be equal to one mile. With approximately 250,000 miles between Earth and the Moon, your students will “walk” to the moon! Students may chart their progress individually or in groups — the choice is yours. Either way, the DLN would like to hear about your class’s journey! Please e-mail your results to jsc-dislearn@mail.nasa.gov , and you may hear your students’ stories LIVE during the DLN’s week-long special event in November!
Filed under: Astronomy, Cool Science, Higher Education, K-12, NASA, OMSI, STEM, Science
(From our friends at OMSI in Portland Oregon)
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) will offer space exploration enthusiasts the opportunity to watch the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) crash-land on the Moon Friday, October 9. The LCROSS will crash into the Moon in order to gather data from the 6-mile-high impact cloud it will create. OMSI will be showing the impact in the auditorium live via satellite on NASA TV beginning at 3:30 a.m., with the impact scheduled at 4:30 a.m. PDT. Admission for the televised impact is free.
The Mission Objectives of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) include confirming the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon’s South Pole. The identification of water is very important to the future of human activities on the Moon. LCROSS will excavate the permanently dark floor of one of the Moon’s polar craters with two heavy impactors in 2009 to test the theory that ancient ice lies buried there. The impact will eject material from the crater’s surface to create a plume that specialized instruments will be able to analyze for the presence of water (ice and vapor), hydrocarbons and hydrated materials.
On October 9, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. Pacific time, the Centaur upper stage of the rocket that launched Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and LCROSS to the Moon will crash in to moon crater at the south pole, Cabeus A, as the LCROSS spacecraft watches. Four minutes later, LCROSS itself will crash at the same spot. The impact will be watched by numerous spacecraft and both amateur and professional ground-based observatories. On that date the impact site will be in darkness but the ejecta plume, predicted to be approximately 6 miles in height, will launch into sunlight.
The impact will be observed by several space-based observatories, including the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope; GeoEye, a private spacecraft that provides high-resolution satellite imagery; Odin, a Swedish radio astronomy satellite; NASA’s Earth Observing 1 technology demonstration satellite; and LCROSS’s sister mission Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. In addition, numerous professional ground-based telescopes will be watching, including Keck, Gemini, and IRTF in Hawaii; Magdalena Ridge and Apache Point Observatories in New Mexico, and MMT in Arizona.
For more information about the LCROSS mission, including images and timeline, visit: http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/
Please note that the LCROSS impact date and time is subject to change by NASA.
ABOUT OMSI
Founded in 1944, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is one of the nation’s leading science museums, a world-class tourist attraction, and an award-winning educational resource for the kid in each of us. OMSI is located at 1945 SE Water Avenue, Portland, OR 97214. For general information, call 503.797.4000 or visit http://www.omsi.edu
Filed under: Astronomy, Cool Science, Higher Education, K-12, NASA, STEM, Science
(From our friends at ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum in Ashland Oregon)
ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum in Ashland announces an exciting preview of NASA’s upcoming lunar crash landing. NASA will steer the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) into the moon to search for signs of water in a towering plume of dust raised by the crash. The ScienceWorks preview of the impact, illustrated with NASA mission video and new lunar images, will be held October 8th, 7:00-8:00 p.m. in the ScienceWorks auditorium. Admission for the event is free.
The mission objectives of the LCROSS crash include detecting the presence of ancient water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon’s South Pole. The presence of water is vital to the future of human exploration and colonization of the Moon. LCROSS will excavate the permanently dark floor of one of the Moon’s polar craters with two heavy impactors. The impacts will eject material from the crater’s surface to create a plume that instruments will analyze for the presence of water, hydrocarbons and hydrated materials.
The Centaur upper stage of the launch rocket will crash in to crater Cabeus A, at the lunar south pole, at approximately 4:30 a.m., October 9th. After observing the impact at close range, LCROSS itself will crash a few minutes later in the same area. The impact site itself will be in darkness but the ejecta plume, predicted to be 6 miles in height, will launch into sunlight.
The impact will be observed by several space-based observatories, including the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope and LCROSS’s sister mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. In addition, numerous professional ground-based telescopes will be watching along with amateur astronomers, including our local Southern Oregon Skywatchers. The impact plume should be visible in telescopes 10″ or larger in size.
For more information, please visit the ScienceWorks website at http://www.scienceworksmuseum.org/
Filed under: Aeronautics, Astronomy, Cool Science, Educational Materials, NASA, STEM, Science, Webcasts
In 1969, millions of people around the world gathered around their television sets to watch NASA make history by putting the first man on the moon. Now, forty years later, we will gather around the television set again to watch the beginning of NASA’s Return to the Moon.
On Oct. 9, 2009, at approximately 7:30 a.m. EDT, the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, along with the spent Centaur upper stage rocket will impact a permanently shadowed crater near the lunar south pole.
Following four minutes behind, LCROSS will fly through the debris plume created by the Centaur. LCROSS will collect and relay data back to LCROSS mission control at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California before impacting the surface and creating a second debris plume. The impacts will provide a wealth of data that will help scientists determine the contents of these permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles.
Viewing parties are planned across the country to witness this historic event. To see a list of events taking place in your area, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/impact/event_index.html
For those unable to attend an event in person, NASA TV will stream live video. The broadcast will be available online at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
For this historic day, NASA has created the LCROSS Impact Kit. This kit is full of videos and educational materials to inspire and engage your students in America’s return to the moon. The kit is available on the Web at http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/impactkit/
