Follow Your Curiosity! – Free Resources For the Mars Science Lab Mission

Be A Martian! is just one of the fun resources available from NASA for the new Mars rover mission!

The Mars Science Laboratory is NASA’s new Mars mission. The spacecraft will deliver the Curiosity rover to the Red Planet on August 5-6, 2012 and you’re invited to participate! NASA’s Jet p[ropulsion Lab has put together a web page full of games, apps, viewing details, and activities for students, teachers, and the general public.

Become a virtual Mars citizen! Watch the landing live on NASA TV! Land your own rover in a free Xbox game! And learn about all of the cool science that the Curiosity rover hopes to accomplish when it is safely on Mars!

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/

Watch this video of the Seven Minutes of Terror during the Curiosity rover’s landing!

The Curiosity rover will join two other famous rovers on the face of Mars: Spirit and Opportunity.  Learn more about their continuing mission (note: Only the Opportunity rover is still functional as of 2012) at JPL’s website: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html

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Free NASA Xbox Kinect Game – Mars Rover Landing

Get this free Kinect game today! You control the landing. success or failure is in your hands!

NASA, in conjunction with the upcoming Mars Science Lab landing, has just released a FREE new game for XBox Kinect called Mars Rover Landing. In the new game, players will control each stage of the mission landing!

How hard is it to land on Mars? Test your skills! Your mission: guide NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity to its landing site safely and on target. Use your body to direct the craft and control thrusters as you descend. Gain avatar gear and achievements for a safe landing. The rover’s success depends on you! The Games on Demand version supports English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese. This game requires a Kinect™ Sensor.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Mars-Rover-Landing/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258480836

NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity Landing Educator Conference – August 3-5, 2012

Bring “Curiosity” Into Your Classroom! Join in the historic landing of NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity at Gale Crater Aug.3-5, 2012, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Bring the excitement of Mars exploration to your classroom with standards-aligned, STEM-based, hands-on activities and take home image-rich learning materials. Mission team members will share their stories, and you can see mission control, rover test beds and more. Then, view Curiosity’s anticipated landing at 10:31 p.m., Aug. 5.

For more information and to register, go to: http://marsed.asu.edu/curiosity.

Free Webinar – Is There Water on Mars? – June 20, 2012

Attend a free webinar, June 20, 2012 – Chemistry of Water: Mars Exploration – Is There Water on Mars?

Chemistry of Water: Mars Exploration – Is There Water on Mars? Web Seminar

As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences for educators, the NASA Explorer Schools project and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a 90-minute Web seminar on June 20, 2012, at 6:30 p.m. EDT. “Chemistry of Water: Mars Exploration — Is There Water on Mars?” is an inquiry-based lesson on how atmospheric pressure and vapor pressure affect the boiling point of water. See why the boiling point of water is pressure-dependent, rather than temperature-dependent. Then, by extension, you will deduce if there could be liquid water on Mars.

For more information and to register online, visit http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES2/webseminar25.aspx.

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

Mars for Earthlings Faculty and Postdoc Workshop – Application Deadline by Oct 1, 2012

Mars for Earthlings will be conducting its first faculty/postdoc half-day workshops at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting. Registrants will receive ready-made teaching modules and materials to be utilized in undergraduate Earth and planetary science courses. Introductions and walk-throughs of Earth analogs to Mars and Mars-related software will be provided. With attendance, registrants will receive a voucher for the amount of their registration to the GSA bookstore.

For more information on registration and deadlines, please visit http://www.geosociety.org/meetings/2012/courses.htm.

Mars Student Imaging Project – Summer 2012

The Mars Student Imaging Project is seeking educator applicants to participate in a virtual experiential opportunity for the 2011-2012 school year and the summer of 2012. Students will have the opportunity to ask a research question about Mars, use real Mars data to answer the question, interact with Mars scientists and target a brand new image of Mars using a special camera on the Mars Odyssey Spacecraft. This is an opportunity to do authentic research, build science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, experiences, and possibly make a new discovery on Mars!

For more information about the project and to apply online, visit the Mars Student Imaging Project website at http://marsed.mars.asu.edu/msip-home

Questions about this opportunity should be directed to Jessica Swann at jlswann@asu.edu or Anthony Zippay at jzippay@asu.edu.

Mars Education Challenge – Register by Dec 16, 2011

Artist Rendition of Mars Curiosity Rover

Teachers of grades 7-12 are challenged to develop ingenious ways to incorporate Mars science and exploration into the classroom. The grand-prize winner receives $5,000, a trip to the NSTA National Conference on Science Education in Indianapolis, and a chance to do field research with a well-known NASA scientist. Other exciting prizes will also be awarded. For more information, please visit the Explore Mars web page and submit your intent to enter by December 16, 2011.

Final entries (lesson plans) are due by January 16, 2012.

1. Lessons should use Mars (as an example) in your science lesson, while teaching the standard curriculum. Your entry can be one lesson, or several lessons. It can use technical equipment or simple pen and paper.
2. Abstract: You will need to send an abstract providing a general description of your curriculum support The main body of your curriculum support materials should be no longer than 5,000 words in length.
3. Your lesson(s) must be accompanied by 5 to 20 PowerPoint slides of your idea / your lesson(s).
4. The PowerPoint slides will also be put on the web to elucidate your lesson idea to your fellow science teachers.
5. Send in a letter from your school confirming that you teach at that school and indicating the science course(s) that you teach at that school.
6. Include your own personal contact information (name, address, email address, telephone numbers, and school address)

Learn more at the Explore mars website http://www.exploremars.org/mec2012/

Life on Mars? Event at Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum – Nov 25, 2011

Join us at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon to watch a live launch of the next NASA/JPL Mars Rover: Curiosity followed by a Robo-Fest with the OSU Robotics Team!

NASA/JPL’s next generation Mars Rover “Curiosity” is scheduled to launch on Nov. 25, 2011, 7:21am PST. Curiosity is a rover that will assess whether Mars is, or was able to support microbial life. Join us for pre-launch, then take your seat in the IMAX® Theater and watch the scheduled launch* of the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft.

The Oregon Robotics Tournament and Outreach (ORTOP) and FIRST Robotics will be on hand to help demonstrate FLL/FTC/FRC team robotics and share their enthusiasm. If you are not on a team, but interested in forming one for 2012, come and find out about how to get involved!

The live launch event begins at 6:30am on Nov 25th at the Evergreen Aviation and space Museum’s IMAX theater.

Curiosity Launch
Location: IMAX® Theater
Cost: FREE!!! (Members bring your membership ID for special perks)
Time: 6:30 a.m.
Event Includes:
• Member continental breakfast
• Keynote speaker, Dr. Shan d’Silva
• Real-time launch event and mission animations

RoboFest
Location: Space Museum
Cost: $5 for youth entrance
Time: 10:30am-3:00pm
Event Includes:
• OSU Robotics Team talk and robot demo
• FLL/FRC robot sharing with robot demo

Visit the Evergreen Aviation and Space museum’s website for details: http://www.evergreenmuseum.org/plan-a-visit/upcoming-events/