Tuesday, September 1 at 8pm ET/PT on PBS After four decades of fly-by probes, orbiters, landers, and rovers, the quest for life on Mars is as tantalizing as ever. With unique access to the NASA Phoenix and Mars Exploration Rover missions, NOVA shows scientists and engineers in action, directing the operations of spacecraft millions of miles away, as the robotic explorers drill into rock, claw into soil, analyze samples, and trundle across the rock-strewn landscape in search for signs that Mars once or maybe even still harbors some form of life. NOVA goes behind the scenes of the latest NASA missions to the Red Planet to reveal new clues and challenges on the road to answering this ultimate question: Is there life on Mars? See some of the finest images ever taken of the martian surface–including Phoenix’s most famous–on the program’s companion website.
Read more here; http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mars
Remember, most NOVA episodes stream on their website the day after the premiere, so if you missed any broadcast, you can catch it at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/programs
NASA invites you to submit your name to be included on a microchip that will be sent to Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, scheduled to launch in 2011. Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or still is, an environment able to support microbial life.
The “Send Your Name to Mars” Web page enables anyone to take part in the mission by sending his or her name to the Red Planet. Participants can print a certificate of participation and view a map showing where other contributors are from.
To submit names, visit http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/sendyourname/
To learn more about the Mars Science Laboratory mission, visit http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
Filed under: Competitions, Higher Education, K-12, Mars, NASA, Oregon State University, Robots, STEM, Science, Student Opportunities
WHO: Everyone is invited!
WHAT: Mars Rover Demonstration and Discussion
WHERE: Adair County Park – north of Corvallis, OR
WHEN: Saturday, April 25, 2009; 11am-2pm
Free and open to the public
The Oregon State University Robotics Club’s 2009 University Rover Challenge Team will host a demonstration of their new rover design on Saturday, April 25. The team will test their new rover design while performing tasks in biology, geology, soil analysis, emergency navigation and construction. The event will be at the first covered picnic area in Adair County Park north of Corvallis. After a brief project introduction at 11 a.m., the team will begin testing the new rover design until approximately 2 p.m.
For more information regarding the University Rover Challenge, sponsored by the Mars Society, please visit the official website at http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/urc
Filed under: Contest, Cool Science, K-12, Mars, NASA, STEM, Science, Student Opportunities
NASA has posted online nine rover names that are finalists for the agency’s Mars Science Laboratory mission and invite the public to vote for its favorite. The non-binding poll to help NASA select a name will accept votes through March 29, 2009.
More than 9,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grades submitted essays proposing names for the rover in a nationwide contest that ended Jan. 25, 2009. Entries came from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the families of American service personnel overseas. NASA will select the winning name, based on a student’s essay and the public poll, and announce the name in April.
The student who submitted the winning name will be invited to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to sign the rover. Additionally, all 30 student semi-finalists in the naming contest will have an opportunity to place an individually-tailored message on a microchip that will be carried on the car-sized robotic explorer. For worldwide participation beyond the contest, the public has a chance to participate in “Send Your Name to Mars.” The agency will collect names to be recorded on the chip. Names will be collected via the contest Web link beginning today.
Scheduled to launch in 2011 and land on Mars in 2012, the rover will use a set of advanced science instruments to check whether the environment in a selected landing region ever has been favorable for supporting microbial life and preserving evidence of such life. The rover also will search for minerals that formed in the presence of water and look for chemical building blocks of life.
To view the nine finalist names and cast your vote, visit http://marsrovername.jpl.nasa.gov
Filed under: Educational Materials, K-12, Lesson Plans, Mars, NASA, STEM, Science
The Mars Phoenix lander is digging through the soil of the Red Planet and collecting samples. In this activity, students will:
–Work in cooperative groups to collect soil samples from the field, just as NASA’s robotic Phoenix Mars Mission collects samples on the Red Planet.
–Understand the properties of soils.
–Examine soils for their ability to sustain organisms.
Students will measure the soil moisture content, compare soil colors, look for biomarkers and measure pH to make their comparisons. They will then present a “Soil Properties Report.”
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Getting_Dirty_on_Mars.html
Filed under: Mars, NASA, Science | Tags: National Geographic, Phoenix Mars Lander, TV
Naked Science: “Mars Waterworld”
Airs Sunday May 25, 2008 at 9P et/pt on the National Geographic Channel
NASA’s Phoenix Mission lands on Mars to dig for evidence of water. Scientists hope to determine whether Mars was ever wet and warm enough to sustain life. watch a preview of the program at this link: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/player.html?title=05334_00
Join the National Geographic Channel during a live blogging event this Sunday to discuss the historic landing. http://ngcblog.nationalgeographic.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37
(From our friends at the Oregon museum of Sceince and Industry)
PORTLAND, OR ( May 7, 2008 ) — The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) will offer space exploration enthusiasts a front-row seat for NASA’s Phoenix Lander touch down on Mars. Scheduled for May 25 at 4:36 p.m. PDT, Phoenix will parachute from orbit and touch down on the outskirts of Mars’ northern polar ice cap, joining the Mars exploration rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
The Mars landing will be shown in the OMSI Auditorium via a non-stop live link from NASA. Doors will open to the public at 3:00 p.m. to coincide with the NASA’s live broadcast and seating is on first-come-first-serve basis. This event is included with paid museum admission. Pending a successful landing and contact, the first images from Phoenix are scheduled to be seen around 7:00 p.m.
Phoenix is expected to land on the permafrost-like terrain and spend most of its time scooping away topsoil so it can scrape through sub-layers of ice. But because the climate at the pole is so harsh, the lander won’t likely live much past its 90-day mission life.
Phoenix is designed to be an innovative, low-cost part of the NASA’s Mars Exploration Program and will be instrumental in achieving this program’s long-term goals to determine whether life ever arose on Mars, to characterize the climate and geology of Mars, and to prepare for human exploration.
In contrast to the successful Mars Pathfinder and Mars Exploration rover missions, Phoenix uses a lander because it has a different purpose. The rovers were designed to study rocks at different locations, looking for evidence that liquid water once flowed on the surface of Mars; the lander’s job is to reach the water below the surface. Phoenix will land in an area of Mars where water is believed to exist in the form of ice just below the surface.
Combined, the information from the rovers and Phoenix should help NASA pinpoint the landing site for Mars Science Laboratory, larger scaled of Mars rovers, which is scheduled to land on the Red Planet sometime in the summer of 2010.
ABOUT THE HARRY C. KENDALL PLANETARIUM:
OMSI’s Harry C. Kendall Planetarium, a 200-seat, 360-degree, 52-foot domed theater, is the largest and most technologically advanced public planetarium in the Pacific Northwest. This high-tech venue features state-of-the-art Sky Scan full dome video allowing the planetarium dome to be completely covered with real and computer-generated images to create one complete environment.
ABOUT OMSI
Founded in 1944, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is one of the nation’s leading science museums, an award-winning world-class tourist attraction and an 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 www.omsi.edu
On May 25, 2008, the NASA Phoenix spacecraft will arrive at Mars. Phoenix will be the first vehicle intended to land on the surface of Red Planet since the Mars Exploration Rovers “Spirit” and “Opportunity” landed in January 2004.
Phoenix is a three-legged lander that will perform its “entry, descent and landing” sequence and, if successful, will commence a three-month surface science mission. Phoenix will dig down to an ice-rich layer that scientists calculate lies within inches of the surface. The lander will check samples of soil and ice for evidence about whether the site was ever hospitable to life.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California will be conducting a live webcast for schools on Thursday, May 22, at 9:00 a.m. PDT (12:00 p.m. EDT). This webcast will preview the events of the entry, descent and landing, the path to Mars so far, and the science mission.
Appropriate for 4th- through 12th-grade classrooms, the program will feature information and video clips for 30 minutes. Four selected schools connected through the NASA Digital Learning Network will engage in Q&A with JPL staff for an additional 20 minutes.
For information on how to view the webcast live, visit http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/content/webcast/
To learn more about the Phoenix mission, visit http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/present/phoenix.html
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
Filed under: Biology, Cool Science, Higher Education, Mars, Professional Development, STEM, Science, Teacher Development | Tags: Astrobiology, graduate credit, Yellowstone
Astrobiology in Yellowstone National Park: A research experience for
Pre-Service and In-Service Science Teachers
Offered by: Portland State University, Department of Geology on July 8-15, 2008
Details:
G410/510, Astrobiology in Yellowstone 2 or 4 credits (graduate or undergraduate)
Trip Dates: July 8-15, 2008 Official course dates: July 7-25, 2008
Trip Fee: $725 – covers transportation to Yellowstone, meals and camping fees (tuition fees extra)
Undergraduate Tuition Fees: $375 for 2 credits or $602 for 4 credits
Graduate Tuition Fees: $701 for 2 credits or $1254 for 4 credits
Course Description: The field of astrobiology focuses on the search for early life on Earth and the possibility of life on other planets. The Cady Research Group ( http://cadylab.pdx.edu/ ) investigates how life leaves an imprint on the rock record. In this course, students will be exposed to a variety of field and microscopy techniques used to detect signatures left by microorganisms. We will travel to hot springs in Yellowstone National Park to study the formation of microbial fossils in hot spring environments. Participants will conduct original research projects related to current research questions posed by NASA with regard to Mars exploration. We will also discuss methods to incorporate this multidisciplinary field into K-12 science curriculum. Assignments, due after returning from the field, are to write a short field research report and draft a K-12 lab or field activity. The 4-credit version will also require you to prepare a complete curriculum module to share with others. All students must be prepared to hike 5-6 miles/day on moderate trails, carrying light to moderate loads.
Contact Professor Sherry Cady – (503) 725-3377, cadys@pdx.edu and/or Dr. Rick Hugo – (503)725-3356, hugo@pdx.edu for more information.
