NASA and AIAA Student Podcast Competition

"What do you think is NASA's greatest exploration achievement in the past 50 years and why?"

Exploration provides the foundation of our knowledge, technology, resources, and inspiration. It seeks answers to the fundamental questions about our experience, responds to recent discoveries and puts in place revolutionary technologies and capabilities to inspire our nation, the world, and the next generation. Through NASA and its partners, we touch the unknown, we learn and we understand. As we take our first steps toward sustaining a human presence in the solar system, we can look forward to far off visions becoming realities of the future. The 21st Century Explorer Podcast Competition is an Education and Public Outreach project designed to inspire and motivate the next generation of explorers and to compete effectively for the minds, imaginations, and career ambitions of America's young people. Students will create an audio recording or video short to answer the question: "What do you think is NASA's greatest exploration achievement in the past 50 years and why?"

Rules

The contest starts on OCTOBER 1, 2007 AT 12:00 AM ET. Competition closes with the first 1,000 entries in each category or until midnight on JANUARY 4, 2008 ET, whichever comes first.

Entry Categories

Division 1
Audio Podcast – Age Group (11-14)
Video Podcast – Age Group (11-14)

Division 2
Audio Podcast - Age Group (15-18)
Video Podcast – Age Group (15-18)

All entries must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Each contestant must be a United States citizen between 11-18 years of age.
• Each contestant must submit an entry form.
• Parents must consent if entrant is under the age of 18.
• Entry must meet technical specifications (see right).
• Any use of copyrighted material will disqualify entry.
• Only one (1) entry per person.

Judging Criteria

A panel of judges will choose 15 finalists per each of the two areas (audio and video) and per each age group. Finalists will be displayed on the website between February 14th and February 14th and February 28th, 2008. First, Second, and Third Place winners will be selected from the fifteen (15) finalists in each category. Judges for the Final Round will be comprised of attendees at the Third Space Exploration Conference to be held in Denver, CO on February 26-28, 2008. The contest winners will be announced on the website on February 28, 2008.

Judging will be based on 5 point scale based on the following criteria:

• Content: Is the treatment of the subject matter effective? (i.e. storytelling, script, etc.)
• Creativity: Do the production elements add to the program? (i.e. graphics, SFX, or camera talent, design, animation, etc.)
• Execution: Were technical levels maintained? (clarity, levels, distortion, etc.)
• Clarity: Was the contestant able to communicate their idea effectively? (objectives, story flow, interest, etc.)
• Summation: What was the overall impression?

Contestants will be able to receive a maximum of 25 points, which is based upon the contest’s criteria, is a perfect score.

Additionally, during the period of February 14th through February 28th, 2008, the public will vote for and select a “People’s Choice” winner.

More information go to www.explorationpodcast.com

NASA Discovery Conference Day 2

Day 2 of the the Discovery @15 Conference began with the "Development and Project Management" session. Right now the quote of the panel is "Everyone draws a good org chart" (Paul Gilbert) the question is who are the personalities driving the project. The chemistry of project team is a key to success. Important keys to early Discovery Mission success "Focused Science" and "Minimize Risk" that changed the paradigm of Solar System exploration.

Now back to tweeting from Discovery @15

Next up will be Wes Huntress "Discovery- on the Road Again"

Wes Huntress "the father of the Discovery Program" http://tinyurl.com/2aho36

Discovery -- lower cost...using smaller launch vehicles and smaller spacecraft and finding new ways of doing business

Mars Observer was to be the 1st low cost mission before Discovery..it ballooned in cost and disappeared at Mars Orbit insertion

Mars Observer link http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mi... (I was supposed to work on day from MO..changed my career path)

The loss or Mars Observer taught us we had to manage risk..one way "test, test and test"

New model NASA would "buy whole missions from the science community" first time missions were competed

There hasn't been a full mission selection in Discovery in 5 years...we were supposed to launch every 18 months.

The loss of the Delta II launch vehicle will hurt Discovery

Huntress: "we found by experiment the limits to "better, faster, cheaper" and the pendulum has swung in wrong direction

Next up the EPO session

All Discovery mission proposals must include and Education and Outreach plan

The first presenter in Shari Asplund EPO lead for the Discovery Program http://discovery.nasa.gov/education

A new addition to EPO for Discovery is "student collaboration" ways to involve high school and undergraduate students

many missions participate in Master Educator Progams...Solar System Educators and MESSENGER Educator Fellows

missions also conduct educator workshops and develop curriculum -reach k-4 thru stories and songs- older kids get involved in mission data

Discovery works with museums, planetariums, networks of amateur astronomers and solar system ambassadors http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/

Jacinta Behne is talking about EPO for the Genesis mission http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/educate/index.html

Jacinta "we need to translate complex content in various ways to meet the needs of our various audiences"

http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/educate/scimodule/cosmic/ptable.html check out the interactive periodic table from the Genesis misssion

Genesis also managed to get a Genesis video on United Airlines flights...

Deep Impact EPO from Maura Rountree Brown http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/deepimpact/index.cfm

Deep Impact had Lucy McFadden http://www.astro.umd.edu/~mcfadden/ a science team member as part of the EPO

Maura "You have to be careful the plan has to be cohesive" what do audiences need, what science does our mission bring..who needs to know

Deep Impact EPO built a philosophy and aligned all activities

prepare for the unknowns known unknowns and unknown unknowns advice to EPO leads

next session for Discovery @15 the Complexities of Deep Space Operations

Andy Cheng is now talking about the challenges of NEAR http://near.jhuapl.edu

NEAR was the first planetary mission outside a NASA center...web was new then..first mission to have a website and Andy was an early blogger

check out the videos of the NEAR Eros encounter http://near.jhuapl.edu/Images/.Anim.html

next up Mike A'Hearn the PI for the Deep Impact mission and PI for the Deep Impact extended mission

the impactor on Deep Impact was 1/3 ton 50% copper... the comet overtook the impactor

Check out "Deep Impact-A Smashing Success! http://tinyurl.com/6ksxj

The Deep Space Operations panel is now up--

Deep Impact had more operations issues than anticipated..basically learning to operate the s/c and testing all of the command sequences


Genesis Sample return had the challenge of targeting away from earth til the last possible moment...they had 12 reviews that year

panelist: many of these missions underestimated the operations requirements at the proposal stage

Discovery @ 15 meeting has adjourned!

don't forget to check out the blog http://tinyurl.com/yutyp6

Tweeting from NASA's Discovery at 15 Conference

I'm at the Discovery@15 Conference in Huntsville, AL. From the NASA Discovery website:

In space exploration, the possibilities for discovery are without limits. Even with the vast amount of knowledge gained since exploration of our solar system began, there are still more questions than answers.

NASA's Discovery Program gives scientists the opportunity to dig deep into their imaginations and find innovative ways to unlock the mysteries of the solar system. It represents a breakthrough in the way NASA explores space, with lower-cost, highly focused planetary science investigations designed to enhance our understanding of the solar system.

All completed Discovery missions have achieved ground-breaking science within strict cost and schedule limitations, each taking a unique approach to space exploration.

Reaching into the unknown, doing what's never been done before, and driving new technology innovations that may also improve life on Earth - this is NASA's Discovery Program.

I'll be adding my twitter comments throughout the meeting

is now in work mode tweeting from the Discover @ 15 meeting http://discovery.nasa.gov/Discovery15/

just announced that all presentations will be video taped and podcast on the website http://discovery.nasa.gov/D... eventually!

First up Bob Farquhar who worked on 3 Discovery missions including NEAR, Contour and MESSENGER http://tinyurl.com/26aqrn

or more info about the Discovery missions check out http://discovery.nasa.gov/ ... I'm the education and out reach lead for MESSENGER

more on Bob Farquhar http://www.jamesoberg.com/eros.html




Now Discovery Sample return missions: 1st up Stardust..it flew through the tail of a comet http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

read about aerogel: http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/aerogel.html 99.8% air used to collect comet tail dust

If you want to find comet dust in aerogel check out Stardust at home http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

30,000 volunteers are already participating in Stardust @ home stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ perk-you get to name the grains you find

Next up the Genesis mission that returned samples of the solar wind http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov

The speaker for Genesis is Don Burnett http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/people/index.html

Genesis sampled high speed, low speed and Coronal Mass Ejections see mission gallery http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/gallery.html

Don is discussing some of the challenges related to the Genesis hard landing http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/genesis/field.cfm

amazing results are coming from research on the Genesis solar wind samples http://tinyurl.com/yyphws

Next up-- Technology Innovation thru the Discovery Missions--enabling technologies in a cost-capped program

Bill Borucki is talking about Kepler http://kepler.nasa.gov/ the mission to search for habitable planets outside of the Solar System

Kepler uses 42 CCDs covered in sapphire http://kepler.nasa.gov/sci/design/spacecraft.html

"How can you quantify science? Its of infinite value" Bill Bourcki when asked quantify science value when Kepler was faced w/ budget cuts

Next up MESSENGER "How can you not like the planet Mercury?" MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon

The challenges to a Mercury orbiter....Mercury is very close to the sun...only spacecraft to visit Mercury is Mariner 10 in 1974- a flyby

MESSENGER website http://MESSENGER.jhuapl.edu

Technology infusion for MESSENGER-46% of the mass of the spacecraft is fuel..needed to integrate structure and propulsion system.

....including specially designed tank on MESSENGER..total of 17 thrusters-given 1 Earth, 2 Venus and 3 Mercury flybys before orbit insertion

The sun is 11 times brighter at Mercury than earth...lead to ceramic cloth sunshade..behind the sunshade MESSENGER is room temperature

don't forget first Mercury flyby is Jan 14 2008 the first spacecraft results from Mercury in more than 32 years

The Dawn Mission technology infusion is Ion Propulsion-learn more at http://tinyurl.com/28zsnf

Dawn is scheduled to launch Sept 26th...it will visit two asteroids, Ceres and Vesta http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/

now Discovery "Missions of Opportunity

The Discovery program supports international cooperation through Missions of Opportunity with international space agencies

ASPERA-3 is a suite of instruments on the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft http://www.aspera-3.org/

Moon Mineralogy Mapper will fly on the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft-- India' s first mission to moon http://moonmineralogymapper.jpl.nasa.gov

This official launch date of Chandyayann-1 is April 2008 http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan/htmls/home.htm

M-cubed is a spectrometer with 260 spectral channels and 70 m resolution. So we will have high resolution maps of the elements on the moon