Robotic Design Challenge

During the week-long Girl Scouts USA core trainers workshop at NASA's Johnson Space Center participants learned about the engineering and science related to the robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars. They did a variety of hands on activities, toured labs and heard from scientists and engineers who are part of robotic exploration programs. They received Lego Robotic Kits, a Robotic Arm Trainer and a hand held Alta Spectrometer. Their final activity or "capstone experience", the Robotic Design Challenge, was to propose, design and build a robotic mission to the Moon or Mars. The mission had to address one or more of NASA's science and exploration objectives associated with the return of humans to the Moon and on to Mars. Here is the mission proposal and design from one of our teams

Robotic Exploration Design Challenge Mission Plan/Proposal

Heide Basinger, Girl Scouts of the Huron Valley Council
Carol Chu, Washington Rock Girl Scout Council
Terry Gryting, Girl Scouts Susitna Council
Faye Van Dyke, Angeles Girl Scout Council

LALUNA MISSION

Chandrayaan-1 will launch in March 2008. Two months into this mission by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) will have returned images showing the mineral composition on the entire surface of the Moon. Our robotics exploration mission (LaLuna) will be based on their findings about the location of the mineral ilmenite, a mineral made up of iron titanium oxide. The mineral ilmenite will be critical to a sustained human presence on the Moon because it can be heated to release oxygen.

LaLuna will then determine the depth of the ilmenite deposit. Determining the depth of the ilmenite will aid in determining the volume, and therefore the quantities of oxygen that might be produced. Decisions could then be made about our ability to produce enough oxygen to sustain human life.

MISSION PLAN:

The spacecraft used to carry out the LaLuna Mission will cost $235 Million, with a mass requirement of 81 and requiring 30 units of power. After landing on the surface of the Moon, our robotic mission will use a spectrometer to first confirm the presence of ilmenite, and then will attempt to drill 4 meters into the Moon’s surface. Extracting a core sample, the spectrometer will verify the presence of ilmenite at various points along the core sample to determine the depth of the deposit. The robotic arm can rotate to drill in multiple nearby locations at the landing site.

PROCESS:

The LaLuna Mission Team considered some important questions that need to be answered to help determine the viability of sustaining a human presence on the moon. It was determined that providing another piece of the puzzle, ability to produce sufficient oxygen, would work toward this end.

Using information gained during this week of workshop sessions and tours, we discussed the science, which led to a list of the instruments needed. A design was sketched and changed multiple times as the discussion continued and ideas evolved, and better methods were discovered and ideas were discarded. The Team also considered the cost and energy and mass requirements.

Materials were gathered to construct a model using the design. A model was built which fit the size and materials specifications.

The LaLuna team during their presentation to the review panel.

Seasons and Biomes at the GLOBE Annual Meeting

This morning I did a workshop "Quantifying Change with Landsat" for the Seasons and Biomes project during the GLOBE annual conference in San Antonio, TX. We had forty participants from the US, France, Russia, Lebanon, UK, Argentina, Thailand, Mexico and more. While I have quite a bit of experience with Landsat, I am new to Seasons and Biomes and the quantifying change exercise. Elena Sparrow, the principle investigator of Seasons and Biomes gave an overview of the project.

We continued with an overview of how NASA uses satellites to study the Earth and focused on the Earth System, the interaction of land, water, air and life. For our engagement activity we did the landform quiz; projecting different landsat images and having participants at each table try to identify the landforms and setting of each satellite image. Here are some of the images that we used in the quiz. All are from the Landsat family of satellites that fly 700 km above the earth's surface.

What do you see? Do you know where these places are?

We had quite a lively discussion about the Landsat images and some very interesting interpretations. By the time we finished this activity our participants were ready to learn more about the how and why of Landsat. And yes, I did give them the answers!

In the Shadow of the Moon

Today Brooke, Steph, & I had wonderful opportunity to see the pre-release of the movie In the Shadow of the Moon. What an amazing movie!! Today, July 20, 2007, marks the 38th Anniversary of the first landing of humans on the Moon.

So, you're probably wondering what's this movie about. In the Shadow of the Moon is a documentary featuring never seen before NASA footage of the Apollo missions. This includes footages taken by the astronauts while they were on the Moon and in Mission Control. The filmmaker, David Sington, also include interviews from the Apollo astronauts.

The stories these men tell, bring the whole experience of going to the Moon, or almost making it, to life. As you sit and listen to them you can see the excitement and the passion in their eyes. The trials of just getting a single rocket off the ground without it exploding to launching three men around the Moon. You begin to realize the accomplishments that science, engineering, and technology have made to make all of this possible. Seeing the tools we used to get there the Apollo era makes it even more exciting is how LRO will assist in discovering the unknown. Thus once again allowing astronauts to go back to the Moon.

It's amazing to realize that the last time a human has stepped foot on the Moon was nearly 35 years ago, and we haven't been back there since. For many people, having people fly into space is taken for granted. After watching this movie, I don't think I would take it for granted anymore. The images shown from the command module makes you realize how small the Earth is in the grand scheme of things. This movie was definitely inspiring. I just hope I have the opportunity to inspiring the next generation of astronauts and explorers, and they find that space a marvelous place to visit.

As well as winning the World Cinema Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival this year, this movie was a big hit with its pre-release at the NASA centers today. Its release is planned for September 7th.

Three new NASA Explorer Schools (NES) come to Goddard

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with the members of the three new NES for the Goddard service region and show them all of the great professional development opportunities related to Aura. One of the members of the Goddard Office of Education arranged to have all of the Earth Science educators from center come and give a ten to fifteen minute preview of their educational programs. The new NES schools were treated to a smorgasbord of materials from Aura, IceSat, Landsat 7, and MESSENGER. Wearing my Aura hat, I offered opportunities to be trained on materials relating to air quality (ozone and NO2 production) and the stratospheric ozone layer (ultraviolet radiation). The NES team was particularly interested in the ultraviolet activities, and was very adamant about getting me to visit Elizabeth, NJ to give a professional development workshop! One member from each of the teams were grouped together and given an introduction to the Aura Ozone Monitoring Garden by my colleague Jeannie Allen. All in all, the teams seemed extremely interested in getting their hands on the wealth of materials GSFC Earth Science had to offer, which was great!