Beth Dickey/J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2087/5241
Jonas Dino
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
650-604-5612
RELEASE: 07-70
NASA SCIENTISTS AND TEACHERS TO STUDY MARS IN THE MOJAVE DESERT
Moffett Field, Calif. - A passionate teacher can make any subject come
alive for students, and NASA is helping fuel that passion.
On March 25-30, 2007, NASA's Spaceward Bound project at the agency's
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., will take a team of NASA
scientists and 40 teachers from throughout the country to study the
unique geologic formations of California's Mojave Desert and the
supremely adapted microbes that call it home. The Mojave's
inhospitable, sun-scorched environment presents scientists with
opportunities to study environments similar to what explorers will
find on the moon and Mars. Leading the team is Chris McKay, an Ames
planetary scientist with extensive experience in field work in
extreme environments.
"We have been doing field expeditions to Mars-like environments for
years," said McKay. "Now we're bringing along the teachers, so they
can see and participate in the exploration of these extreme
environments. The teachers become part of the research team."
Based out of the California State University Desert Research Station
at Zzyzx, Calif., 60 miles east of Barstow, Calif., teachers and
scientists will perform scientific fieldwork. The team will study the
similarities of the desert's geologic formations to those of the moon
and Mars, how microbes and chemical oxidants affect desert soil
formation, and the desert's hypolithic algae, cyanobacteria and
stromatolites. Teams also will use a hot air balloon to test new
remote-sensing equipment to detect subterranean formations such as
lava tubes, caves and paleolakes.
As part of the training for the expedition, teachers participated in
four webcast training sessions that included presentations by the
scientists explaining the research they will conduct during the
expedition, training for field work in an extreme environment and
discussions about how to bring their experiences into their
classrooms.
During the expedition, teachers and students around the world can
follow the action on the Spaceward Bound Web site via daily mission
logs and image captures. On March 28, the team will hold two one-hour
webcasts. The first webcast, in English, will begin at 9 a.m. PDT,
followed by a Spanish webcast at 10 a.m. PDT.
"Beginning with the training webcasts and continuing through the
expedition, 'Spaceward Bound: Mojave,' enables teachers to immerse
themselves in authentic moon and Mars analog field research," said
Liza Coe, co-principal investigator for the Spaceward Bound project.
"Teachers will very naturally inject these experiences into their
teaching, which is critical because their students are the ones who
will actually go to the moon and prepare for the first human missions
to Mars."
The Education Division at Ames developed the Spaceward Bound: Mojave
educational program in partnership with the Desert Research
Institute, Las Vegas, Nev., and San Jose State University, Calif., to
train the next generation of space explorers. Previous Spaceward
Bound expeditions include the exploration of the Mars-like soils in
the Atacama desert in northern Chile and two week-long, immersive,
full-scale simulations of living and working on the moon and Mars at
the Mars Desert Research Station in the Utah desert.
The Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters,
Washington, funds the Spaceward Bound project, which continues the
agency's tradition of investing in the nation's education programs.
The project is tied directly to the agency's major education goal of
engaging Americans in NASA's mission. NASA is committed to building
strategic partnerships and linkages between formal and informal
education providers of science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (also known as STEM). Through hands-on, interactive
educational activities, NASA is engaging students, educators,
families, the general public, and all agency stakeholders to increase
Americans' science and technology literacy.
For more information about the NASA Spaceward Bound Project, visit:
http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/spacewardbound
For more information about the Exploration Systems Mission
Directorate, visit:
-end-
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
hqnews-subscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov
To remove your address from the list, send a message to:
hqnews-unsubscribe@mediaservices.nasa.gov
No comments:
Post a Comment