Killer asteroids and Mars exploration at the Space Science Institute
Students help develop asteroids exhibition
Asteroids and comets are popular subjects for movies like Armageddon and Deep Impact, but they are also playing their own starring roles in NASA research. In 2005, NASA’s Deep Impact’s probe collided with Tempel 1, exploring beneath the comet’s surface. In 2007, NASA launched the Dawn spacecraft to the Main Asteroid Belt. With all this interest, asteroids and comets are compelling subjects for an exhibition.
The National Science Foundation is funding the Colorado-based Space Science Insitute's (SSI) development of an exhibition about asteroids and comets with a twist. The Asteroids project includes three teams of middle school students—Student Advisor Teams or SATs—who will learn about the science content, interact with the core project team, and develop an asteroids-related project for their communities. As members of one of the project’s primary target audiences of middle school students, the SATs are uniquely qualified to advise the project team.
Located in three states—Colorado, New Mexico, and North Carolina—the students communicate with each other and the project team through Web conferences and a social networking site on Ning.com. The SATs are currently participating in title testing and will soon be interacting with a virtual prototype. The SATs’ schedule of activities includes field trips and many hands-on learning opportunities, particularly testing education and outreach materials. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific, a project partner, is also facilitating astronomy activities for the SATs that are presented by amateur astronomy clubs near each SAT host site’s facilities.
The centerpiece of the comprehensive informal education project is a 3,000-square foot traveling exhibit. To maximize audience reach, the project includes two small exhibits that will be used in a host venue’s community and at science centers and libraries across the country. Each measures about 300-square feet in size. SSI is developing an Education/Outreach Program for museum educators, docents, and amateur astronomers, as well as a Professional Development Program for science center and library staff and other informal education professionals. A public website will provide an interactive clearinghouse for all the project’s components.
Success and challenge for recent Mars exploration missions
Imagine spending your summer stuck in fine silt. This has been the recent fate of the Mars Exploration Rover named Spirit. In September Bill Farrand, a Senior Research Scientist at SSI, delivered an update on the status of Spirit, its sister rover Opportunity, and current Mars research. He was joined by Steve Lee, a Research Associate at SSI and Curator of Planetary Science at Denver Museum of Nature and Science, who updated the Institute about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Despite the various challenges these NASA-funded research vehicles have faced, each is transmitting valuable data. Spirit, which got stuck last spring in a sand trap north of the feature scientists call “Home Plate,” has been viewing local soils that turn out to be rich in silica and sulfur. Meanwhile, operations teams are experimenting with test bed rovers to try and find a way to extract Spirit. They plan to attempt to free the rover later this month.
After investigating the Victoria Crater, the Opportunity Rover headed toward the Endeavour Crater, which measures 20 kilometers! The straight-line distance between Victoria and Endeavour is 12 kilometers, but Opportunity is taking an arched course to avoid the “purgatoids,” a region of potentially risky dune ripples. During the detour, Opportunity has identified Block Island, an iron-nickel meteorite that might have entered Mars’ atmosphere at a time when it was thicker.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the largest orbiting spacecraft ever sent to the Red Planet, has also faced difficulty. By last August, MRO had transmitted 83 terabytes of information, far exceeding its goal of returning 34 terabytes, or three times the combined data of five NASA missions. Then the spacecraft’s computer accidentally put itself into safe mode, losing two valuable months of Mars southern summer data key to polar studies. Researchers hope to move MRO out of safe mode by late October. In the meantime, researchers are compiling and analyzing MRO’s vast global maps of planet.
About the Space Science Institute
The Space Science Institute (SSI) is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation formed in 1992. Its purpose is to create and maintain an environment where scientific research and education programs can flourish in an integrated fashion. SSI has five major branches: Research, Flight Operations, Education, Business Operations, and Information Systems and Technology (IST).
SSI’s research program encompasses the following areas: space physics, earth science, planetary science, and astrophysics. The flight operations branch manages the Cassini spacecraft’s visible camera instrument and provides spectacular images of Saturn and its moons and rings to the public. SSI’s education program includes developing traveling exhibits and professional development workshops for scientists and educators, education planning for the research community, and developing instructional materials.