Coming in September: Education Alley, the Ultimate Field Trip

JPL invites you and your students to "Discover What's Out There" at the AIAA Space 2009 Conference and Exhibit, an event with more than 15 industry and educational exhibitors at the Pasadena Convention Center, September 15 to 17, 2009.

Education Alley, the ultimate field trip, will excite your students about math and science as the foundation for exciting careers in the space industry. This successful program is coming to Pasadena for the first time, so make sure that you do not miss out on this event. Students will learn how space impacts their everyday lives by meeting with the people who work with satellites, astronauts, GPS technology...and many more topics.

Each day, students will be part of a press conference or NASA live event and then tour a specially built exhibit, meet the commercial exhibitors at the Space 2009 Conference and Exhibit and participate in presentations that will leave them talking on the bus back to school! The event is sponsored by The Aerospace Corporation, The Boeing Company, Raytheon, Space X, Wyle and the X Prize Foundation.

The exhibit is each day from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and is provided free of charge. Space is limited, so reserve your spot now by downloading the registration form and faxing to 703-264-7551. Questions, please contact Lisa Bacon at lisab@aiaa.org.

Click here to see the program and download the registration form,
www.aiaa.org/content.cfm


From: subscription email

A recent meteorite discovery on Mars and an edible classroom activity provide a scrumptious way to kick off the new school year with a meteorite lesson.

Mars meteorite discovered

NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover recently spotted a rock that looked as big as a large watermelon. Scientists used instruments on the rover to determine that this large rock was indeed a meteorite. In fact, it’s the largest meteorite yet found on Mars. Opportunity also determined that it is an iron-nickel meteorite and has a distinctive triangular pattern on its surface, matching a pattern common in iron-nickel meteorites found on Earth.

Classroom activity: Edible rocks (Recommended for grades 4 – 8; Addresses Earth and space science standards)

NASA has a wide range of meteorite activities to choose from. A great fun one to kick off the new school year is called Edible Rocks. This lesson is designed to introduce the topic of meteorites in an appetizing way. Candy bars play the role of meteorites, with their fillings representing different substances that make up meteorites.

Use the wonderful new images of a meteorite on Mars to introduce students to the topic. While meteorites on Earth are more familiar, the images above show that meteorites can fall on other planets too. Meteorites are tiny fragments that have broken off asteroids, survive their fiery passage through a planet’s atmosphere and land on that planet’s surface.

Go to activity: www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl...lerocks.html

Resources: Meteorite on Mars www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm

Asteroid Watch Web site www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch/



From: subscription email

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

News release: 2009-138, Sept. 4, 2009

Preventive Care Continues; Science on Hold

PASADENA, Calif. -- During analysis of four safe-mode events this year, engineers for NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter project have identified a vulnerability to the effects of subsequent events. They are currently developing added protection to eliminate this vulnerability while they continue analysis of the string of incidents this year in which the spacecraft has spontaneously rebooted its computer or switched to a backup computer.

The team is keeping the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in a precautionary "safe" mode, with healthy power, temperatures and communications, while continuing analysis and precautions subsequent to the latest rebooting, on Aug. 26. Science observations will likely not resume for several weeks while this preventive care is the mission's priority.

The analysis identified one possible but unlikely scenario jeopardizing the spacecraft. This scenario would require two computer resets, each worse than any so far, occurring within several minutes of each other in a certain pattern.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, at Mars since 2006, has met the mission's science goals and returned more data than all other Mars missions combined. It completed its primary science phase of operations in November 2008 but remains an important contributor to science and to future landed missions. Continuing science observations are planned when the spacecraft is brought out of its current precautionary mode.


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From: subscription email