Live Video Chat: In Celebration of National Women’s History Month – March 22, 2012

In celebration of Women’s History Month, a panel of outstanding women at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., will answer student questions about their contributions to the missions and goals of NASA. Meet Judith Watson, a senior research engineer, Julie Williams-Byrd, an electro-optics engineer, Kimberly Land, a communications, education and public outreach manager, and Lindsay Rogers, a resources management analyst.

Join the video chat on Mar. 22, 2012 from 2-3 p.m. EDT to ask panel members questions about their career paths or the projects they work on. Submit questions during the chat through a chat window, or send them to NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.

To learn more about NES, visit the NASA Explorer Schools website. http://explorerschools.nasa.gov

For more information and to view the video chat, visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/nes2/home/women-history-month-chat.html.

If you have any questions about the video chat, contact NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.

NASA – Station Spacewalk Game

Play the NASA International Space Station Spacewalk Game!

Have you ever dreamed of being an astronaut? Take a virtual spacewalk today and play on the ISS in this game offered free online from NASA.

Explore the International Space Station and try to perform some of the tasks assigned to astronauts working on the station. Complete missions to earn badges. It’s not as easy as you might think to navigate in space!

NASA – Station Spacewalk Game.

New ISSLive! Application Available for iPhone, iPad and Android

The new ISSLive! App is available now.

NASA announces the release of the ISSLive! app for iPhone, iPad and Andoid. This innovative, interactive app provides a novel way to learn about the International Space Station while on the go.

The ISS Live! app delivers live streaming data from the International Space Station. Users can take a virtual 3-D tour of the Mission Control Center and the space station, and view mission control console displays with real-time data. Interactive educational lessons using the data, as well as crew and science timelines with individual crew member, social media and international science experiment details are also available via the app.

To learn more and find links to download the ISSLive! app, visit http://spacestationlive.jsc.nasa.gov.

iPad and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Android is a registered trademark of Google Inc.

New NASA Kids’ Club Activity: Window to Earth

Visit NASA's Kids' Club to try the new Window to Earth activity

Astronauts have a spectacular view of Earth from space. Move through the pages of Window to Earth and see images taken from space of these geographical features: peninsula, glacier, lake, desert, cape, island, upheaval dome, strait, waterfall, reef and volcano.

To take a peek and see how Earth looks from space, visit http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/clubhouse/Window_to_Earth.html

For more fun activities, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub.

What’s New at the NASA Space Place?

Science and technology permeate all our activities from driving a car to cooking to writing poetry. So when we study science and technology, why not incorporate some of those other activities? Why not use interests like art and music to think about and express our understanding of nature? The Space Place has lots of cross-disciplinary opportunities to help make nature unforgettable.

New at spaceplace.nasa.gov
Get the key to the treasure chest! The new “Go with the Flow” game at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ocean-currents/en/ has you playing with salinity and heat, which have opposing effects on vertical water movement. Using heat and salt as tools, as well as horizontal currents and walls, you set up flow patterns that your little submarine can follow in order to reach the key that will open the treasure chest and get the gold.

After playing “Flow,” students are not likely to forget the roles that heat and salinity play on ocean currents. These are important principles to learn in order to understand the potential effects of climate change.

Space Place en español
¡Haz un mapa topográfico! But first, make a clay sculpture of a mountain. This hands-on arts and crafts activity shows how 3-D topography can be represented very accurately on a 2-D map. Using clay (or our recipe for modeling dough), dental floss, paper, pencil, ruler and toothpicks, students make a mountain of any shape, slice it horizontally using dental floss and outline the slices on a piece of paper. It could be an art project or a geography project. Either way, it’s lots of fun, and clearly explains the mystery of topo maps, which many people never understand. Go to http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sp/topomap-clay.

Spotlight on Music
Music is science and technology in the service of art. At least that’s one way to look at it. See (and hear) an example at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/violins. Musical instruments are technologies. The most exquisite-sounding instruments represent technological excellence. But what makes the best instrument sound better than the second best instrument? In the case of Stradivarius violins, it’s believed to be the unique density of the wood, which grew only during a certain period of history. Why? Because of a lack of sunspots!

Another example of technology as a delivery mechanism for art is the Golden Records on each of the two Voyager spacecraft, now nearing interstellar space. These records are meant as messages from Earth in the event that intelligent alien beings someday encounter the probes. Students can see some of the photos of Earth and try to guess the identity of some of the sounds on the records at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/voyager-to-stars.

For the classroom
Drumming is a form of music, but it can also be a form of precise verbal communication.

When people figured out how to add meaning to an electromagnetic wave, which is essentially a rhythm, a universe of possibilities opened up. Speaking in Phases is a classroom activity that demonstrates the difference between amplitude modulated (AM), frequency modulated (FM) and phase modulated signals. It’s not as hard as you might think. In this case, all that’s required is something to beat on — like drums or desks — and maybe a metronome or electronic keyboard that can make a steady beat.

Students learn the basics of how information is added to a carrier signal. Then they add their own meaning to the signal and communicate with each other using only the timing of beats. It truly teaches the most basic concept underlying all electronic communication, including radio, TV, phones, satellites and spacecraft far away in deep space. See http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/classroom-activities/#phases.

For out-of-school time
Almost everyone loves to eat. Why not make it even more fun by combining snack preparation with space exploration? The Space Place has several projects you can make, and then eat.

One project is Asteroid Potatoes, spaceplace.nasa.gov/asteroid-potatoes. To cut down on mess, you can make the mashed potatoes ahead of time, and let the kids do the sculpting, baking (with supervision) and eating.

Another creative activity is making edible spacecraft or rockets. Tortillas make a wonderful base. You can even paint them (or paint small, cut-out pieces) with food coloring. Also provide colorful vegetables and fruits of many kinds, olives, cream cheese (for glue), chips and anything else you can think of that’s good to eat. Take pictures before they’re gobbled up. See some examples and recipes at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/tortilla-spacecraft.

Special Days

January is National Whale Watching Month
Some species are endangered. See how satellites can help, and play “Migration Concentration” at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/migration.

Feb. 12, 1809: Charles Darwin’s Birthday
Darwin is known for his theory of the evolution of species. Play with the “Emoticonstructor” and see one way evolution works at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/emoticonstructor.

Feb. 22: Thinking Day
Exercise your brain by going “VecàTouring” at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/vec-touring.

Feb. 25: Quiet Day
Even the most violent events in space make no sound. Make a Sound Cone to hear even very quiet sounds. See how at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/sound-cone.

NASA’s New Interactive Space Communications Game

NASA has released an interactive, educational video game called NetworKing that depicts how the Space Communication and Navigation, or SCaN, network operates. The release of the video game coincided with the close of World Space Week, Oct. 4-10, 2011.

Developed by the Information Technology Office at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., NetworKing gives players an insider’s perspective into how astronauts, mission controllers and scientists communicate during space missions.

To successfully construct fast and efficient communication networks, players first must establish command stations around the world and accept clients conducting space missions, such as satellites and space telescopes. Resources are earned throughout the game as players continue to acquire more clients. Players can use accumulated resources strategically to enhance and increase their networks’ capabilities.

Players with the most integrated communications networks will have the ability to acquire more complex clients, such as the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and the Kepler mission.

NetworKing is available to the public for play on the NASA 3D Resources website. Players can access the game using an Internet browser. It can be downloaded and run on both a PC and Macintosh operating system. To play the NetworKing game, visit http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/3d_resources/scan.html.

In conjunction with NetworKing, the 3D Resources website also links visitors to the Station Spacewalk Interactive Game and the SCaN Interactive Demo that demonstrates the interaction between SCaN’s ground-and-space facilities and NASA spacecraft.

Declared by the United Nations General Assembly, World Space Week is an annual international celebration of science and technology commemorating the launch of Sputnik 1, the first human-made Earth satellite, and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty. The theme for World Space Week 2011 was “50 Years of Human Spaceflight.”

For more information about SCaN, visit https://www.spacecomm.nasa.gov/spacecomm/default.cfm.

What’s New at NASA’s Space Place Website

Appearances can be deceiving. But that’s not the case with the Space Place website. Our pizzazzy new look only enhances the appeal, accessibility and navigability of our quality resources. The new Space Place includes all the compelling, fun and educational content it always has. Explore. Enjoy!

New at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov
As we promised in the March – April issue this year, the “new and improved” Space Place is here! It is reorganized, revamped, rebuilt and recommitted as a fun, free, fulfilling and fantastic NASA website for kids, teachers and parents. It makes use of the newest Web development tools and techniques to provide a more dynamic, interactive, educational and enjoyable experience.

The menus are filterable on subject or type of activity. Searches of any word, term or NASA mission produce customized menus. Dozens of educational and compelling games have been reframed as intrinsic parts of the site (no pop-ups or new contextually isolated windows or tabs). Many images and illustrations are enlargeable with a mouse click, and all videos run seamlessly within the page with no external video players or plug-ins needed. All pages are printer friendly.

The site includes over 150 separate modules intrinsic to the site, plus links to other valuable NASA kids’ sites for our grades-4-6 target audience. The modules and links are classified under the categories of Space, Earth, Sun, Solar System, People & Technology and Parents & Teachers.

Check it out. Let us know what you think. E-mail your feedback to info@spaceplace.nasa.gov.

Space Place en español
The vast majority of the modules (games, activities, fun facts) on the new and improved Space Place are also available in Spanish, as are the menus and other navigation features. As before, you can toggle back and forth between English and Spanish versions of these pages. The content and images on the two versions are identical. It’s an ideal design for English learners or Spanish learners.

Focus on Space Place Live!
Kate and Kyo may not be slick, professional talk show hosts, but they do an entertaining job of finding out about the careers and interests of happy and passionate NASA scientists and engineers. Their most recent guest, Dr. Merav Opher, is a scientist on the distinguished Voyager mission, with its two spacecraft still alive and well after 34 years in space. They are now approaching the very boundary between the solar system and interstellar space. Dr. Merav talks about what Voyager is finding out there, her passion for physics . . . and opera! Watch this new episode at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/space-place-live.

For the classroom
Want to see all the image galleries on The Space Place? Just type “gallery” into the search box, and you’ll get a custom menu with links to our Solar System, Earth, Space, Sun, and People & Technology galleries.

Each gallery shows a page of thumbnails with short captions. Mouse over a thumbnail and you’ll see a tiny “Do” icon. Click on it to display the image and its large-font caption to print and post in the classroom. Or, just click on the thumbnail image itself to display a larger image and caption in a slide show format. Keep clicking “Next” or “Prev” to move through all the images on the page. Go to http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/search/?q=gallery, or just try the search box.

For out of school time
Stars look like tiny twinkling white lights on a black background. But, if you look carefully, you will see that they aren’t all white. Some are red, blue or yellow.

Why? Your kids and you can find out while making crispy, delicious star cookies that shine in all these colors. You will also find out how un-star-shaped real stars are. It’s the light distortion caused by our turbulent atmosphere that gives them their twinkling, pointy shapes.

And how can you tell whether a star has planets?

Have fun baking, tasting and exploring stars at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/star-cookies.

Special Days
Sept. 6: Read a Book Day
Get back into the swing of school. Choose from five fun, spacey story books, all of which can be read in a few minutes. Go to http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/search/?q=storybook.

Sept. 13: Positive Thinking Day
Think positive when you rub balloon on your head. Although it may be negative ions that rub off and pick up little pieces of paper, it will leave you feeling more positive. Try the “Ions in action” experiment at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ion-balloons.

Sept. 18, 1977: Voyager 1 took the first picture of Earth and the moon together.
Now Voyager 1 is about to reach interstellar space. If it finds aliens, what will they learn about us? Find out http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/voyager-to-stars.

Oct. 5, 1882: Robert Hutchings Goddard was born.
Goddard is known as the “Father of the Space Age,” because, in 1926, he built and successfully launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. Launch a bubble-fueled rocket at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/pop-rocket.

Oct. 13: Train Your Brain Day
Ozone Trap-n-Zap is a great game for training your brain to recognize good ozone from bad ozone. You will also help the planet. Play at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/ozone.

Oct. 26, 1959: Earth people see far side of the moon for the first time.
The Lunik 3 spacecraft (Soviet Union) takes the first photo of the far side of the moon. See lots of pictures of all sides of the moon at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/gallery-earth/#moon.

NPPy: Big Planet, Little Bear Video Series

A new educational video series is bringing the importance of Earth science and climate studies to a younger audience. The NPPy: Big Planet, Little Bear series follows NPPy, a curious polar bear cub with a keen interest in Earth science.

NPPy is named after the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project, or NPP for short. Scheduled to launch in October 2011, NPP will monitor the Earth’s health from space to help scientists build models and predict how climate is changing over time.

In this series of animated videos, NPPy the bear walks along with his mom and tells us what he’s learned about the NPP mission and its importance for everyone who lives on planet Earth. Follow NPPy to find out more about his adventures and the NPP mission!

Kids can also help NPPy reach all 50 states and beyond by participating in the Adventures With NPPy project. Just download the picture of NPPy, print it and take pictures of it in your favorite spots. Send in the pictures to be posted in the NPPy photo album.

To check out the video series and learn more about NPPy the polar bear, visit http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/nppy.html

To learn more about the NPP mission, visit http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/misison_details.html