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| TABLE OF CONTENTS | CLICK ON THE RED LINKS BELOW TO VIEW ARTICLES |
Click here for a printer friendly version of this Newsletter If you missed the |
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Hot Topic |
Statement by Louis Stodieck Hearing on NASA's International Space Station |
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A Letter From Lis |
I See Green - And I Love It | |
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News From NOAA |
NOAA
Satellites - An Informative Page For
Your Students
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News From NASA |
Space Station Astronauts Marvel at
Planet Earth And Astronauts to Make Virtual Connection With Students And Gummy is still HERE!! |
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Education News |
Give science and math a chance | |
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Education Tools |
Predicting the Weather | |
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Lesson Fun For SEA Members |
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Something Special |
NASA's 50 Year Celebration | |
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Go to SEA's Home Page |
Visit the Satellite Educators Association home page |
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Statement by Louis Stodieck Hearing on NASA's International Space Station Committee on Science and Technology April 24th, 2008 Chairman Udall, Ranking Member Feeney and members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify on a subject that I feel is very important to our nation. As you will see, I believe there is tremendous potential for the International Space Station (ISS), as a National Laboratory, to be utilized for high-value research and development in low-Earth orbit. I also hope to convince you that more must be done now to position the ISS National Laboratory to succeed. My name is Louis Stodieck and I am a Research Professor in the department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In addition to my academic role at CU-Boulder, I am privileged to serve as the Director of BioServe Space Technologies, a space life sciences research center. BioServe was founded in November 1987 through a NASA grant to the University. Through its 20-year history, BioServe's mission has essentially remained unchanged: we work in partnership with industry, academia and government to conduct space life sciences research that primarily focuses on commercial applications that could benefit the public. BioServe has served the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, agribusiness and biomedical industry sectors with most Center projects focusing on the effects of microgravity, often referred to as weightlessness. Starting with our first flight in 1991 on STS-37, the Center has flown 40 payloads on 29 missions. Our experiments have launched on the Space Shuttle, Progress and Soyuz vehicles and were operated in orbit on the Space Shuttle, the Russian Mir space station and, more recently, the International Space Station. A wide range of experiments have been carried out across the full spectrum of space life sciences applications that have evaluated molecular processes, cell and tissue biology and the development and adaptation of various plants and organisms. BioServe's commercial partners have included large Fortune 500 companies such as Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Procter and Gamble and Weyerhaeuser along with numerous start-up and established smaller life sciences companies. It is through the above activities that I feel I am qualified to present to you today the reasons why the nation should capitalize on the ISS and utilize its capabilities to the greatest possible extent. Potential for R&D on the International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) represents an incredible human achievement for which our nation and our International Partners can be very proud. The launch of the first ISS element took place just under 10 years ago in 1998. Today, the ISS is a remarkable orbiting laboratory with unequaled capabilities. It represents the culmination of the dedication and commitment of thousands of people who have worked tirelessly on the design, fabrication and on orbit assembly of this massive undertaking. The ISS also represents an unparalleled opportunity in human history: The ability to use the "lens" of microgravity to understand and exploit gravity as a physical force. The ISS offers a superb vantage point from which to observe the Earth as well as providing access to the space environment, attributes that can both be exploited for research. The ISS is rapidly growing in capability and even now can support a wide array of research and development activities that simply cannot be done on Earth. During the last 10 years, the focus for the ISS Program has necessarily been on assembly. NASA's ISS Payload's Office at the Johnson Space Center has done an excellent job of supporting research utilization, but in reality such utilization has had to take a back seat to ISS assembly and maintenance. The focus on assembly has meant that comparatively little transportation volume, mass, power and, probably most important of all - crew time - have been available to utilize the ISS to any significant extent. As a result, many of the ISS racks and equipment are currently sitting idle awaiting the day when ISS utilization can be ramped up. So, when can ISS utilization be ramped up, and what will it take to do so? Based on the current schedule, the ISS project is now only 2 1/2 years away from completion. At that point, the ISS can be officially and substantially opened for business. A significant part of that business, in my mind, ought to be scientific and commercial research and development. It will indeed be unfortunate if the ISS remains substantially under-utilized once it is completed in 2010. I hope instead that with proper planning and strategic investment now, the ISS will be able to live up to its fullest potential as a unique laboratory the like of which has never before been available and possibly never again will be in our lifetime. It is probably not possible to predict when the ISS will reach the end of its lifetime and be decommissioned, and it seems quite premature to discuss this when the lab is not yet completed and anything close to full utilization remains unrealized. However, the operational lifetime of the ISS is currently certified only through 2016. Even if this date is extended, it should be clear to all of us that the ISS will be available to serve the interests of the U.S., our International Partners and, more broadly, humanity for a finite period of time. Once the space shuttle is retired, our ability to service and replace major components of the ISS will be severely constrained. This ultimately could limit or reduce the amount of science that is conducted in this laboratory. Compare this situation with that of the Hubble Space Telescope. Just imagine how the lifetime of the Hubble Space Telescope would have been shortened and consider the amount of science lost without space shuttle servicing missions. The period of actual use of the ISS after assembly complete may be only 5 to 10 years and may be determined more by an inability to maintain safe operations than by U.S. policy. Thus, it will be very important to derive the most benefits possible from this incredible, one-of-a-kind laboratory as early as possible and for as long as possible. Click here to read the rest of the statement.
"It's fantastically beautiful from our vantage
point," said Reisman, who is making his first spaceflight, in a recent
televised interview. "The other thing that really strikes you is how thin
the atmosphere is. It's such a tiny little sliver of a band, and you get a
definite impression of the fragility of it just by looking out the window at
an angle." NASA is broadcasting a
series of high-definition (HD) views of Earth
recorded by astronauts from the ISS and the
agency's space shuttles to commemorate Earth Day on April 22, culminating
with day-long HD broadcast on Tuesday. Each continent on Earth
has its own character and hue which veteran spaceflyers can recognize at a
glance, Reisman said, adding that he hopes to gain such expertise during his
flight. Japan's Kaguya orbiter,
currently orbiting the moon, has also
beamed back high-definition videos of a
distant Earth rising and setting on the lunar horizon. The probe carries a
special high-definition camera specifically designed to relay the stark
beauty of the moon and Earth to the public, Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency officials have said. Two of the three space
station astronauts who returned to Earth Saturday agreed with Reisman's
description of the Earth from space. Before leaving the
station, Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson and South Korean astronaut
So-yeon Yi told reporters that the Earth's beauty was one of the highlights
of their respective spaceflights. They
landed early Saturday, off-target but
safely, with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko to end the six-month
Expedition 16 mission. "I do think there is a
sense of fragileness to our planet just because of the thinness of the
atmosphere," Whitson said. "It's an incredibly beautiful place that we live
in and this perspective that we have makes us want to cherish it even more." Yi, a 29-year-old
bioengineer who became
South Korea's first spaceflyer during her
10-day spaceflight, concurred. "We are all in a really
beautiful world," she said. "So we should make our lives more beautiful."
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A Letter From Lis
Elisabeth Cohen Dear Satellite Educators, Seeing Green It seems that everywhere I look, I see green. Unfortunately this green is not money, although as a graduate student that would be quite nice. The green I see is an environmental movement that is sweeping the nation. The climate change issue is now in the public eye. The media has picked up the issue. For example, the cover of Time Magazine is “How to Win the War on Global Warming.” There are articles in Rolling Stone about green campuses. There are articles and advertisements in Delta airlines magazine about green products and offsetting the carbon footprint of your flight. The television network TLC is dedicating shows to being green and there will be a new green network soon. Is all of this talk going to help? I think it will. If everyone does something “green” they will be part of the movement. According to environmental psychologist, Dr. McKenzie-Mohr, getting people involved even if their efforts are low impact, will make it easier to move them to higher impact changes to better the environment in the future. Our nation is now thinking about doing something! Let’s do it!
Sincerely, An Excerpt from WeatherOutreach.org
Lis Cohen is currently teaching the Climate Change course at
the University of Utah. She also taught the Severe and Unusual Weather
course at the University of Utah in the fall. Lis is currently a graduate
student studying meteorology at the
University of Utah. Her focus is clouds' effects on climate.
You can you hear Lis speak about weather and climate on
KCPW, Salt Lake City's NPR affiliate. Lis
writes a
Celebrate NASA's 50th Anniversary With the
Digital Learning Network NASA has powered us into the 21st century through signature accomplishments that are enduring icons of human achievement. What are some of those accomplishments, technological innovations, and scientific discoveries that have improved and shaped our lives?
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Astronauts to Make Virtual Connection With Students
Astronauts flying on a space shuttle mission to service the
Hubble Space Telescope for a final time spoke to middle school students
across America simultaneously at 1:15 p.m. EDT, April 30, from NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
NOAA Satellites - An informative page for your students NOAA operates two types of satellite systems for the United States - geostationary satellites and polar-orbiting satellites. Geostationary satellites constantly monitor the Western Hemisphere from around 22,240 miles above the Earth, and polar-orbiting satellites circle the Earth and provide global information from 540 miles above the Earth. This web page will give your students basic information and TONS of resource links for students to study and write reports. Click Here But there's MORE! This web page will describe NOAA's responsibilities in the study of and distribution of information regarding Climate Change. NOAA is charged with helping society understand, plan for, and respond to climate variability and change. This is achieved through the development and delivery of climate information services, the implementation of a global observing system, and focused research and modeling to understand key climate processes. The NOAA climate mission is an end-to-end endeavor focused on providing a predictive understanding of the global climate system so the public can incorporate the information and products into their decisions. Click here to visit the page to share with your students. __________________________________________________________________
It's Air Quality Awareness Time: Keep An Eye On Your AQI
NOAA and the Environmental Protection Agency established the awareness week to remind Americans of the importance air quality forecasts can play in their daily lives. "Weather plays a key role in air quality since sunlight and heat contribute to poor air quality in polluted areas," said Jack Hayes, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. "Along with our partners, NOAA is proud to provide the air quality forecast information necessary to make important health decisions." About 300 cities nationwide issue daily forecasts based on EPA’s Air Quality Index, a simple, color-coded scale that describes a community’s air quality and what steps people should take to reduce their exposure to pollution. AQI forecasts are available for ozone, which occurs primarily in summertime, and for particle pollution, which can occur year-round. New NOAA air quality forecast guidance, updated twice daily on http://www.weather.gov/aq, is improving state and local agency forecasters’ ability to predict the onset, severity and duration of poor air quality episodes. In addition, NOAA’s comprehensive air quality predictions provide hour-by-hour information for people in cities, suburbs, and rural areas over the entire lower 48 states. When air pollution reaches high enough levels, the air can be unhealthy for everyone, especially if you are active outdoors. Reducing your exposure can be as simple as limiting exercise or other strenuous activities such as yard work, or rescheduling the activity for a time when air quality is expected to be better. NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects. Give science and math a chanceBy: SouthtownStar columnist Marlene Lang A story circulated last week about a 13-year-old German student whose calculations of the chances of an asteroid hitting Earth proved NASA's number-crunching wrong. The youngster reportedly accounted for the chance that the asteroid Apophis would collide with a satellite - something like space billiards - while the space gurus did not. Also reported was a confession from both NASA and the European Space Agency that the 13-year-old's calculations were correct, and NASA's were wrong. The story was debunked days later by United Kingdom snits who published denials from NASA and the ESA, saying they never had said the boy's numbers were correct. Whether or not the report was true, I wondered at how the story spread fast and furiously throughout the world. A nerve had been struck. We, the science-challenged public, cheered for underdog Nico Marquardt taking a big jab at those all-powerful astronomers and astrophysicists and other keepers of the knowledge we lack. The boy's reported act of imagination - taking into the picture those 40,000 floating space satellites - was more important than the calculations, as Einstein might have pointed out. We read the story and cheered. The story probably is not true, but it is important. One NASA source insisted the National Aeronautics and Space Administration certainly had considered the satellite factor. Humpf. I quote from the UK Register an unnamed NASA-ite: "Because Apophis will pass interior to the positions of these satellites at closest approach, in a plane 40 degrees to the Earth's equator and passing outside the equatorial geosynchronous zone when crossing the equatorial plane, it does not threaten the satellites in the heavily populated region." Lang's translation: "Let's see the idiots who believed the story follow that lingo." Unless you or I work in a science field, we are a little rusty on those formulas and intimidated by words like geosynchronous. But I've been told not to be. I once had a very cool calculus professor who, it was rumored on campus, could not tie his own shoes. The only evidence I found to confirm the story was he always wore Velcro-closure sneakers. This eccentric fellow once let on to an entire classroom of honors students that math stuff is really not that hard to understand, and he openly accused mathematicians of using big words to intimidate the uninitiated and non-degree holders in order to hold their superior math turf. He was taken to a nonacademic safehouse after this and has not been heard from since. Ah, data can be analyzed and re-analyzed, and words can be deciphered. Geosynchronous refers to something in sync with the Earth; in this case, the satellites' orbit matching the Earth's rotation rate in such a way that it shows up in the sky at the same time every day. I think. I'll have to look into it further. It is true that most of us become bungled in the science jungle when we hear science news, and it's a tragedy. The world is working and moving all around us, and we miss something when we don't understand the details. And it's a lonely world for science people. An acquaintance who is a biochemist recently informed me that, newly single after 22 years, the quality topping his woman-seeking checklist is "science literacy." I wanted to laugh boisterously at the bleak outlook I knew he faced, but I kindly held back. I told him instead to throw out his checklist. Yes, some people have spent years storing up knowledge and information, and some of us have gaps. I would suggest that science and math geeks have a few learning gaps themselves, but it does not matter. Our gaps can be filled by adding to the basic knowledge we already have. It's work that may be worth it. If we are unwilling to do the math, pick up the dictionary or search out a new topic related to what we don't understand, then maybe we deserve to be taken in by false stories and derided by snooty NASA scientists. |
THERE'S EVEN MORE!
Weather is a
big part of our everyday lives, affecting how we dress, where we go, and
even what we talk about. But how much do your students really know about
weather? Have them take the weather challenge to find out.
It's fun, it's easy and you can all get a kick out of it in the classroom. Click here - you take the test first. The first teacher to get 100% gets a free hug from Vic at the next Conference. There's no charge - it's free - and Nancy at JPL will be thrilled you tried. Click here - DO IT NOW!!
YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR GUMMY YET???!!!
Making science edibleŠ-and sweetŠ-is a reliable way to
attracts kids' interest. The new "Gummy Greenhouse Gases" activity on
The Space Place web site makes it fun and easy to learn a bit of
chemistry and to find out why too many of these kinds of molecules in
the air are likely to cause Earth to get warmer.
CLICK HERE
Kids use gumdrops and toothpicks to make simple molecules of ozone, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane. The curious can CLICK HERE to learn more about the greenhouse effect and about the "good and bad" roles of ozone. A short video shows how new space technology can literally paint a 3-D picture of these gases all around the globe. Afterwards, the ghastly gases can be consumed (mind the toothpicks!), thus helping the environment. |
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From tornados to hurricanes and thunderstorms to climate
change, these nine scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric
Research (NCAR) are using math and science to better understand and predict
severe weather systems.
___________________ Test your space
knowledge! Click here for the quiz. Then you can print hard copy to share it with your class.
M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. Photos from the conference now posted.
M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. M.Y. S.P.A.C.E.
Be a M.Y.
S.P.A.C.E. Teacher
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