NASA News: NASA Internship Exposes Teachers To Aerospace Engineering
HAMPTON, Va. -- An innovative summer internship program will give 42U.S. middle and high school teachers a unique opportunity to gain
hands-on experience with NASA's latest aerospace engineering
technologies while working closely with agency technical mentors.
From July 18-29, those selected for the Simulation-Based Aerospace
Engineering Teacher Professional Development program will learn about
virtual technology so they can get their students excited about
real-world science, technology, engineering and mathematics
applications. NASA's Office of Education and Aeronautics Research
Mission Directorate sponsor the program.
Simulation-based aerospace engineering relies on computer models and
simulations of aerospace structures, materials, atmospheric flight
conditions and system operations to design improvements for the next
generation of flight vehicles and systems.
"The greatest engineering accomplishments today are made possible
because of modeling and simulation," said Behzad Raiszadeh, technical
manager for the modeling and simulation initiative at NASA's Langley
Research Center in Hampton, Va. "These highly qualified educators
will see first hand how simulation is used to solve some of the most
challenging NASA problems using the basic math and physics principles
they teach in school."
Four NASA centers are participating in the program this year. Ames
Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.; Kennedy Space Center in
Florida; and Langley are hosting workshops. Johnson Space Center in
Houston is supporting a workshop for the Hispanic community in
Kingsville, Texas. The centers employ extensive modeling and
simulation tools in their research and technology development work.
During the program, teachers will work alongside NASA mentors in
various agency laboratories and have the opportunity to tour NASA
facilities. They also will participate in NASA's Digital Learning
Network, learn about other agency educational resources, hear
speakers, and develop lesson plans incorporating modeling and
simulation concepts.
Participating teachers are from nine states: Alabama, Arizona,
California, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, and Texas.
Half of the teachers represent schools with a minority population
exceeding 50 percent. After their internships, the teachers will
implement the new lesson plans and share them with other teachers in
their school districts. The ultimate goal of the program is to get
students interested in aerospace engineering and computer simulation
early in their education.
The teachers were required to obtain sponsorships from industry and
academia. Forty sponsors have committed post-workshop support to the
teachers, including mentoring, classroom site visits, field trips,
equipment loans, forums for future workshops and speakers, and
financial donations.
To learn more about this program, visit:
https://simaero.rti.org
To learn more about NASA's education programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/education
For more information about the agency's aeronautics research, visit:
http://www.aeronautics.nasa.
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NASA Spacecraft To Enter Large Asteroid's Orbit On July 15
PASADENA, Calif. -- On July 15, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will begin aprolonged encounter with the asteroid Vesta, making the mission the
first to enter orbit around a main-belt asteroid.
The main asteroid belt lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Dawn will study Vesta for one year, and observations will help
scientists understand the earliest chapter of our solar system's history.
As the spacecraft approaches Vesta, surface details are coming into
focus, as seen in a recent image taken from a distance of about
26,000 miles (41,000 kilometers). The image is at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_
Engineers expect the spacecraft to be captured into orbit at
approximately 10 p.m. PDT Friday, July 15. They expect to hear from
the spacecraft and confirm that it performed as planned during a
scheduled communications pass that starts at approximately 11:30 p.m.
PDT on Saturday, July 16. When Vesta captures Dawn into its orbit,
engineers estimate there will be approximately 9,900 miles (16,000
kilometers) between them. At that point, the spacecraft and asteroid
will be approximately 117 million miles (188 million kilometers) from Earth.
"It has taken nearly four years to get to this point," said Robert
Mase, Dawn project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif. "Our latest tests and check-outs show that Dawn is
right on target and performing normally."
Engineers have been subtly shaping Dawn's trajectory for years to
match Vesta's orbit around the sun. Unlike other missions, where
dramatic propulsive burns put spacecraft into orbit around a planet,
Dawn will ease up next to Vesta. Then the asteroid's gravity will
capture the spacecraft into orbit. However, until Dawn nears Vesta
and makes accurate measurements, the asteroid's mass and gravity will
only be estimates. The Dawn team will refine the exact moment of
orbit capture over the next few days.
Launched in September 2007, Dawn will depart for its second
destination, the dwarf planet Ceres, in July 2012. The spacecraft
will be the first to orbit two bodies in our solar system.
Dawn's mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by JPL for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the
directorate's Discovery Program, which is managed by NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences
Corp. of Dulles, Va., designed and built the spacecraft. The German
Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research,
the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical
Institute are part of the mission team.
For an image of Vesta and more information about the Dawn mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/dawn
and
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov
You also can follow the mission on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/NASA_
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NASA Selects Nonprofit to Manage Space Station National Lab Research
WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected the Center for the Advancement ofScience in Space Inc. (CASIS) to develop and manage the U.S. portion
of the International Space Station that will be operated as a
national laboratory. At the conclusion of successful negotiations,
the independent, nonprofit research management organization will help
ensure the station's unique capabilities are available to the
broadest possible cross-section of the U.S. scientific, technological
and industrial communities.
"The space station is the centerpiece of NASA's human spaceflight
activities, and it is truly a national asset," NASA Administrator
Charles Bolden said. "This agreement helps us ensure the station will
be available for broad, meaningful and sustained use."
CASIS will be located at the Space Life Sciences Laboratory near
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The organization will
increase station use to maximize the public's return on its
investment by managing its diversified research and development
portfolio based on needs for basic and applied research in a variety
of fields. CASIS will identify opportunities for non-NASA uses
linking scientific review and economic value, and will match
potential research and development opportunities with funding
sources. The organization also will increase awareness among schools
and students about using the station as a learning platform.
NASA issued a cooperative agreement notice on Feb. 14 to seek a
management partner for the portion of the station designated a
national laboratory in 2005. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010,
which extended station operations until at least 2020, also directed
NASA to establish this organization. The cooperative agreement
initially will have a value of up to $15 million per year.
For more information about the International Space Station, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
For more information about the space station as a national lab, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_
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NASA Releases Book About Psychology of Human Spaceflight
WASHINGTON -- NASA's History Program Office is releasing a new bookthat examines the different psychological factors that affect
astronauts during space travel, especially long-duration missions.
The book, "Psychology of Space Exploration: Contemporary Research in
Historical Perspective," is a collection of essays from leading space
psychologists. They place their recent research in historical context
by looking at changes in space missions and psychosocial science over
the past 50 years. What makes up the "right stuff" for astronauts has
changed as the early space race gave way to international
cooperation. Different coping skills and sensibilities are now
necessary to communicate across cultural boundaries and deal with
interpersonal conflicts.
"The essays give a comprehensive overview of this complex subject,
providing novel insights for behavioral researchers and historians
alike," NASA's Chief Historian Bill Barry said. "The data is
important as we work to send astronauts to Mars, which will mean
longer missions without real-time communication with family and
friends leading to increased potential psychosocial stresses."
The book's editor, Douglas A. Vakoch, is a professor in the Department
of Clinical Psychology at the California Institute of Integral
Studies in San Francisco. He also is a manager at the SETI Institute.
The book is available for purchase through the Government Printing Office at:
http://cot.ag/nyCekB
For a review copy, please contact Nadine Andreassen at
nadine.j.andreassen@nasa.gov
For more information about NASA history, visit:
http://history.nasa.gov
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
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