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Voyages in Education and Public Outreach

An Office of Space Science Newsletter

September 2003 Issue 9

On the Inside

Awards 2

Updates 3

Education Products

 Build a Model of the Swift Satellite! 6

 Hubble Illuminated Photo Exhibit 7

 Your Cosmic Connection to the Elements 8

Education Programs

 Night Sky Network 8

 Saturn Observation Campaign 9

 Students Design Instrument for

 Pluto Mission 10

Support Network Profile

 DePaul University Broker /Facilitator 11

On the Horizon 12

To Mars with MER

Geoffrey Haines-Stiles, Passport to Knowledge

“I never thought science could be so

exciting...” “Can I join a NASA club?” “...I

learned that Mars isn’t really red... and that rovers

go really slow...” “Thank you for taking time out

of your busy schedule to plan this joyful event...”

“The egg drop was great, and if the egg broke,

that meant the robot broke...” “Every person who

helped MER get this far should be proud of

themselves...”

Those were some of the comments from 270

Chicago-area youngsters who gathered at DePaul

University on SpaceDay 2003 to participate in

“Countdown to Mars,” the first of 6 hour-long

broadcasts in Passport to Knowledge’s (P2K’s) 2-

year To Mars with MER (TMwM) project. The

project includes videos, Web sites, hands-on

activities (like the “Great Egg-Drop Challenge”

that appealed to the Chicago kids) and regional

outreach events—all designed to inform and

excite youngsters and general audiences about the

science and engineering—and people—of

NASA’s ambitious Mars Exploration Rover

(MER) mission.

On May 1, the Chicago youngsters were

joined by MER engineers, and linked by satellite

to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where

Project Scientist, Joy Crisp, and others responded

to questions—from Chicago, New York, Fort

Collins, Colorado, and East Central Los Angeles.

More than 120 PBS stations carried the broadcast,

hosted by Bill Nye The Science Guy, live or on

tape delay, reaching almost 2 million viewers, as

well as NASA-TV. Nearly 300 “On-Air” e-mails

came in during the broadcast, and were answered

in real time by MER scientists and engineers at

JPL, Arizona State, and Cornell, including Science

Team Lead, Steve Squyres.

The May 1st event was just the beginning of

TMwM. A primetime documentary, “Bouncing to

Mars,” premiered on participating PBS stations in

summer 2003. Many stations plan to air or rerun

this “behind-the-scenes” story of the timepressured development of the MER mission this

Fall. Two more programs for science centers,

schools and planetariums are planned. On January

17, 2004, “First Look” originates live from the

Houston Museum of Natural Science and JPL from

3:00-4:00 PM EST—shortly after the January 4th

Some of the 270 young Chicagoans who were

happy to learn about Mars and NASA's rover

mission during “Countdown to Mars. “
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Awards

NASA Public Service Group Achievement

Award to McREL

NASA’s Public Service Group Achievement

Award has been given to the education research

laboratory, Mid-continent Research for Education and

Learning, [McREL — http://www.mcrel.org], for

its support of NASA’s Genesis Discovery mission.

One of ten regional education research laboratories

in the United States, McREL has been supporting

the Genesis solar sample return mission by

translating mission science content into standardsaligned learning materials for teachers and the

public since 1998. The award ceremony will be

held October 2, 2003, at NASA Jet Propulsion

Laboratory. For more information, visit the

Genesis Web site at

http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov .

Rosendhal Receives Outstanding

Leadership Medal

At the 2003 NASA Honor Awards Ceremony,

Dr. Jeffrey Rosendhal, director of the NASA Office

of Space Science Education and Public Outreach

program was recognized for his contributions to

the NASA education program with the

Outstanding Leadership Medal. The citation

reads, “For your dedication and innovation in

bringing the excitement and accomplishments of

the Nation’s space program to America’s

children.”

landing of the first rover “Spirit” and focuses on

initial science activities. On May 1, NEW VIEWS

will link the St. Louis Science Center with JPL. The

broadcasts, appearing on participating PBS

stations and NASA-TV, are free for science centers,

schools and noncommercial media to downlink

and host public events, or record for future use.

Both programs will be accompanied by a 2 hour

block of live online interaction with Mars experts.

Completing the set of 6 videos will be two more

prime time documentaries for general audiences,

“Six Minutes of Terror,” airing close to the landing

dates, and “Following the Water,” will wrap up

what are certain to be new discoveries about water

and life on Mars in late Spring 2004.

Targeted outreach events are being planned for

Houston, St. Louis, New York City, MinneapolisSt. Paul, and the Philadelphia region. Part of P2K’s

efforts will also support museum docent and K12 teacher workshops in Durango, Colorado, at

the Children’s Museum and special presentations

at the Western Planetarium Association meeting

at the new Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City,

Utah, and at the 2003 Association of Science and

Technology Centers meeting.

To find out more, you’re invited to visit P2K’s

To Mars with MER Web site, http://

passporttoknowledge.com/mars . Voyages

readers are invited to contact Geoff Haines-Stiles

or Erna Akuginow at (973) 656-9403 or via Email

[ghs@passporttoknowledge.com ] to see how you

and your constituents can participate. We

especially wish to hear from NASA Aerospace

Educators and Broker-Facilitators who are invited

to participate on- and off-camera.

We hope that after the events those you reach

and serve will echo these words from the Chicago

youngsters.

“I talked about the entire experience for days

afterwards...” “I hope to visit next year...” “I

would like to do more studying in this

direction...” “Thank you, NASA.”

TMwM is funded with continuing support

from NASA Office of Space Science and in part by

a major grant from National Science Foundation.

In TMwM, P2K is partnering with the DePaul

University Space Science Center for Education and

Outreach, the Space Science Institute, and JPL’s

Mars Public Engagement Office. Dr. Jeffrey Rosendhal with NASA Administrator,

Sean O'Keefe (L) and Deputy Administrator,

Frederick D.Gregory (R).

Photo Credit-NASA/Bill Ingalls.
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Updates Updates

ViewSpace Receives MUSE Award

John Stoke, Space Telescope Science Institute

ViewSpace, the multimedia astronomy

product for planetariums [see Voyages, issue 3] has

received an award from the American Association

of Museums (AAM). At the AAM conference this

May, ViewSpace was awarded a bronze MUSE

award in the science category. The citation on the

plaque reads: “In Recognition of the Highest

Standards of Excellence in the use of Media &

Technology for Interpretation and Education in

Science.”

Judges commented - “This was great. It was

like seeing a sky show on my PC. And while the

images were spectacular, it wasn’t just about the

images. The content was great, too — interesting,

clear, well-presented, and wonderfully illustrated

with these great photos.” They were particularly

impressed that the project was done in-house.

Another user commented: “With the

ViewSpace project we have found, to our delight,

that museum audiences will linger for long

periods and drink in Hubble’s amazing views of

the universe”.

For more information on ViewSpace and the

MUSE awards, see

http://www.mediaandtechnology.org/muse/

2003muse_science.html .

Communicator Award for Discovery

Program Video

A 23-minute video overview of the Discovery

Program and its 10 missions entitled, “Unlocking

the Mysteries: NASA’s Discovery Program” won

2 awards in The Communicator Awards 2002

Video Competition for Video/Film/Multi-Media

Productions: one Crystal Award of Excellence (the

top award) in the “Government/Other” category

and an Award of Distinction for “Creativity—

Writing.” Shari Asplund, Discovery Program

Office E/PO lead and Richard Goldberg, writer/

producer in Television Productions at the Applied

Physics Laboratory produced the video.

Mid-continent Research for Education and

Learning, McREL, is now working with Ms.

Asplund to develop a student activity and teacher

guide based on the video. The guide is aimed at

grades 5-8 and addresses several national

education standards. Students will learn about

Discovery and the missions, and then design a

ROSS E/PO 2003 Awards

NASA’s Office of Space Science is pleased to

announce that final E/PO awards have been made

for ROSS 2002-03. A total of 76 E/PO proposals

were submitted in conjunction with new parent

research programs and 35 of those proposals were

selected for funding for a total of $570K.

Combined with prior ROSS E/PO awards and the

E/PO awards from the IDEAS program and Guest

Investigator programs of Hubble and Chandra,

there are over 100 currently active small grant

E/PO projects underway across the country.

mission of their own. The CD will also contain

one fun educational activity from each of the 10

missions.

For more on the Discovery Program, see

http://discovery.nasa.gov/ or the Communicator

Awards, see http://www.communicatorawards.com/ .

Ms. Shari Asplund with the Communicator

Crystal Award of Excellence.
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SSI Hosts Workshop for Scientists,

Engineers, and Education and Public

Outreach (E/PO) Professionals

With funding from NASA’s Office of Space Science

and the National Science Foundation, the Space

Science Institute (SSI) hosted its 9th annual K-12

Education Workshop for Scientists, Engineers, and

Education and Public Outreach Professionals, May

4-7 in Boulder, Colorado. The workshop offered

participants the knowledge necessary to both

contribute meaningfully to E/PO and to design

and implement effective E/PO programs in

connection with scientific research programs. In

addition to these annual 4-day workshops, SSI

offers special topic and institutional workshops

to help scientists and engineers become better

partners and supporters of professionals in formal

and informal science education. For more

information, please go to

http://www.spacescience.org, and click on

“Workshops,” or contact Christy Edwards at

edwardcl@colorado.edu, (303) 735-4880.

SSI E/PO Workshop: (L to R) Doris Daou, E/PO

Manager; Michael Allen,University Instructor; and

Renee Gamba, Museum Education Curator, engage in

the “Change Game,” a simulation of school district

education reform, while Paul Dusenbery, SSI, looks on.

Photo taken during SSI’s 2003 K-12 Education

Workshop for Scientists, Engineers, and Education and

Public Outreach (E/PO) Professionals.

Solar System Ambassadors Seize

Opportunities

Ms. Kay Ferrari, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Solar System Ambassadors [see Voyages, issue

5] are a dedicated group of volunteers selected to

bring the message of NASA’s space exploration

efforts to Americans through public presentations.

Even unexpected developments cannot dampen

their enthusiasm, as shown in the experiences of

Ambassador and Army physician Keith

Steinhurst. He was deployed to Iraq earlier this

year and took advantage of the “opportunity” —

hosting informal Ambassador events for the

troops underneath the spectacular nighttime skies

of Iraq. Tailoring his talks to the interests of his

audience, Keith shared his knowledge of space

exploration with soldiers eager for a break in a

sometimes tense daily routine.

Meanwhile back in Florida, Ambassador

Robert Gass was hosting launch events for the

Mars Exploration Rover missions. With help from

Solar System Educator [see Voyages, issue 2] Erik

Landstrom, and partnerships with the NASA

Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center, Boeing and

Cornell University, those who attended the event

at Jetty Park on June 28 were treated to a

smorgasbord of activities including a view of Mars

through a 10-inch telescope, 3-D photos, a

meteorite display, videos, speakers (Bill Nye The

Science Guy and Steve Squyers, science lead,

Cornell University) and games (“Guess My

Weight on Mars” and “Let’s Make a Martian

Deal”). With IMAX and the documentary

Dr. Keith Steinhurst (second from right) and fellow

members of the Army’s 1st Medical Brigade in Tikrit,

Iraq. Photo courtesy of Col. Anita Schmidt, US Army.

production company, Twist, set up for filming

(along with local TV and newspapers), the park

was filled to capacity. Even with steady drizzle

that eventually caused the launch to scrub, crowd

estimates were around 7,000 people.

For information on the Ambassadors program,

see http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/ .
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Exceptional Needs Workshop Held

Dr. Cass Runyon, Southeast Regional Clearinghouse

The third Exceptional Space Science

Materials for Students with Special Needs

workshop was held at Goddard Space Flight

Center, in July 2003. This year, more than fifty

participants represented OSS Broker/Facilitators,

OSS Forums and educators from 16 states across

the country. Returning educators of students with

special needs brought at least one partner educator

from their state, helping to grow the program.

Again this year, workshop participants were

exposed to simulations of many different

disabilities ranging from vision and hearing loss

to orthopedic impairments and several learning

difficulties. Participants donned goggles which

partially/fully limited their physical mobility and

tactile sense and provided presenters with realtime suggestions for adaptations/modifications

for use by all learners.

They toured the Maryland Science Center’s

Space Link and space science exhibits and saw the

new planetarium show: “Hubble Heritage: Poetic

Pictures”. This IDEAS (see page 12) grant-funded

show was a terrific inspiration to the educators

who left with many ideas for their education

settings. They also visited the National Air and

Space Museum (NASM) with Dr. Steve Williams,

the new NASM Education Director and Doug

Baldwin, the Education Lead for the Smithsonian’s

new Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy center. While at

NASM, they “explored” several space sciencerelated Discovery Stations with “disabilities-on”.

The docents helped everyone to fully experience

the activities before seeing the planetarium show,

“Infinity Express and Stars Tonight”.

Major lessons learned from this workshop:

• Have students work in small teams.

• Keep the instructions simple. Include

graphics/images when possible to help them

understand the instructions.

• Include auditory files and a glossary for Web

sites when possible, along with graphics and color.

• Text on Web sites should be available in html

and/or text format in addition to pdf in order for

text readers to be able to serve the visuallyimpaired community.

• Include handouts at several different reading

levels for audiences with learning and reading

difficulties - graphics may remain the same.

• Design the activity with multiple modalities

built in – repetition is good, as is the use of touch,

sound, smell, and sight.

A listserv has been set up to facilitate

communication among all parties interested in

working together to foster better space science

materials for use in the special needs settings. To

join the listserv, contact Cassandra Runyon

(cass@cofc.edu) or Kathryn Guimond

(serch@cofc.edu) at SERCH. For a more complete

summary of the workshop and the presentations,

see http://serch.cofc.edu/serch/special/

ENWSIII_outcomes.pdf .

Planning has started for next year’s workshop

to be held in conjunction with the S2N2 Broker in

Seattle, Washington.

Partnership with the National Federation of

the Blind

DePaul University and Special Needs Resource Group

As part of the effort of NASA’s Office of Space

Science to increase participation of people with

disabilities in space science, DePaul University

and the Special Needs Resource Group have

initiated a partnership with the National

Organization of Parents of Blind Children

(NOPBC), which is a division of the National

Federation of the Blind. Activities thus far include:

• A series of space science workshops and

informational sessions at the 2003 NFB convention

for students and their parents co-hosted by

DePaul, the Wisconsin NFB affiliate, and the

Boston Museum of Science (June 28 – July 4, 2003).

• An event for students for the Wisconsin

Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired at

Workshop participants experience simulated impairments.
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Build a Model of the Swift Satellite!

Dr. Philip Plait and Dr. Lynn Cominsky

NASA Education and Public Outreach Group at

Sonoma State University

This fall, students will have a chance to get a

hands-on feel for space science as they build a

paper model of the Swift Gamma-ray Burst

explorer satellite which is scheduled for launch in

early 2004. When completed, the paper model

stands about 30 centimeters high and 40 across.

The model has representations of many of the

components of Swift, including the three major

telescopes, the solar panels, and much of the

hardware the satellite uses to “swiftly” discover

and pinpoint the locations of gamma-ray bursts,

huge explosions which signal the births of black

holes.

The model assembly activity is designed to be

an informal and fun way to supplement the

students’ learning of such important concepts in

the national science education standards as the

electromagnetic spectrum (Swift’s telescopes

observe in gamma rays, ultraviolet, and optical

light), science as a human endeavor (the design

and building of a satellite in response to scientific

questions), and of course the relationship of

science and technology. The activity also fulfills

many technology education standards, including

developing an understanding of the attributes of

technological design (in reading about the Swift

New Educational New Educational New Educational

Products Products

Swift Model. Image courtesy of Monica Sperandio

and the Italian Swift E/PO group.

Yerkes Observatory with scientists and educators

from the SOFIA mission.

• Participation in a planning group, lead by

NFB Director of Special Programs, Dr. Betsy

Zaborowsky, for a youth science camp, which will

take place in Baltimore in the summer of 2004.

For more information please contact Bernhard

Beck-Winchatz at bbeckwin@depaul.edu or Cass

Runyon at cass@cofc.edu.

Cosmic Questions in Washington D.C.

“Cosmic Questions: Our Place in Space in

Time” [see Voyages, issue 7] will be on display in

Washington D.C. at National Geographic’s

Explorers Hall from October 2, 2003 to December

31, 2003. The highly interactive traveling

exhibition was developed by scientists and

educators at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for

Astrophysics (CfA), with major funding from the

National Science Foundation and from NASA’s

Universe! Education Forum at the Smithsonian

Astrophysical Observatory. Dozens of scientists

from the CfA and from other institutions around

the world contributed to Cosmic Questions and

its accompanying programs.

In its opening venues at Boston’s Museum of

Science and the Midland Center for the Arts in

Midland, Michigan, the exhibition has been

extremely well received by over 400,000 visitors,

and praised for its ability to engage diverse

audiences in exploring current discoveries and

unsolved mysteries about our place in the

universe:

“We’re made of the same thing as stars. I thought

that was interesting because you never would think

that.” —13 year old girl, Midland

For more information, visit

http://cosmicquestions.org .

A young visitor to Cosmic Questions gets a "feel"

for the Milky Way's structure.
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hardware and constructing the components).

Working individually or in groups, students

should not only enjoy building the model and

learning something in the process but also having

the completed satellite to display in the classroom.

By constructing the model, the students will

get a tactile feel for how the satellite is designed

and how the instruments work together. The

model comes in the form of a booklet, with the

satellite components printed in vivid color. The

students cut out the pieces and assemble the model

using a few extra materials readily available in

most classrooms. In the assembly instructions,

each piece of hardware is designated by its real

name (“magnetic torque wheels” and “Burst Alert

Telescope”, for example) and is labeled with a brief

description of its function.

The model was originally designed by Monica

Sperandio of the Italian branch of the Swift mission

E/PO group, and has been redesigned and

supplemented with descriptions in English by

Sonoma State University scientific illustrator

Aurore Simonnet.

The booklet is available in both Italian and

English. It can be ordered or downloaded as a

PDF at http://swift.sonoma.edu/education/

index.html . Building the Swift paper model will

engage your students and get them interested in

the design and use of space satellites. For more

information about Swift E/PO materials, please

visit http://swift.sonoma.edu .

Hubble Space Telescope Illuminated Photo

Exhibit Now Touring

John Stoke, Space Telescope Science Institute

The Space Telescope Science Institute and the

Midland Center for the Arts (MCFTA) in Midland

Michigan have combined resources to create an

exhibit entitled “Heavens Above: Images of the

Universe from the Hubble Space Telescope.”

MCFTA, an eclectic blend of art and science

museums, is the first stop on the national tour of

Cosmic Questions exhibit [see Voyages, issue 7]

following it’s premiere at the Museum of Science

in Boston. MCFTA wanted to surround the

Cosmic Questions exhibit with an astronomical

photo gallery, to envelope the exhibit about the

tools and techniques of astronomical science in an

Heavens Above Panel - Heart of the Whirlpool Galaxy.

aesthetically rewarding celebration of astronomy’s

fruits. Mary Dussault of the NASA Universe!

Education Forum suggested the Space Telescope

Science Institute (STScI) as a good source of

beautiful astronomical images. John Stoke of

STScI’s Office of Public Outreach was drawing up

plans for a very inexpensive-to-tour Hubble photo

exhibit when he received the call from MCFTA and

the partnership was born.

Heavens Above consists of 30 illuminated

light boxes, each 30x40 inches in size containing a

high resolution Hubble image with caption. The

images include introductory panels about Hubble,

the scale of the images, and the correct

interpretation of color in the images. The

remaining 27 panels are primarily Hubble images

complemented by several ground based images

which are grouped into ‘realms’ such as solar

system, stars and nebulae, and galaxies. A large

plasma screen fed by a computer running STScI’s

ViewSpace program is also included.

The result was just what MCFTA was after -

a top notch science exhibit enveloped in the beauty

of the cosmos. Following their joint appearance

at MCFTA, Heavens Above and Cosmic

Questions will tour independently. The tour for

Heavens Above will be managed by MCFTA. The

exhibit will be available for loan for a multi-week

period for a modest fee. For more information

please contact John Stoke at STScI at

stoke@stsci.edu.
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Educational Programs Educational Programs Educational Programs

The Night Sky Network: Activity Kits,

Training, and Community-Building for

Amateur Astronomy Clubs

W. Michael Greene, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The Navigator Public Engagement Program at

NASA JPL is working with the Astronomical

Society of the Pacific (ASP) and the Astronomical

League to create the Night Sky Network, an

umbrella organization to meet some of the

ongoing needs of the astronomy club community.

Many of the 50,000 amateur astronomers in the

United States engage in some form of public

outreach. According to a recent survey, 86% of

amateurs involved in outreach belong to one of

the more than 600 astronomy clubs in the country.

Amateurs surveyed cited the need for three things:

1) ready-made, themed materials, 2) training in

astronomy content and presentation skills, and 3)

networking with other amateurs doing outreach.

Each club that joins the Night Sky Network

receives a free outreach kit. The first kit in

development is a PlanetQuest kit with hands-on

activities and multimedia presentation materials.

The kits are designed to be used in a variety of

settings, including classrooms, youth group

meetings, and community college events, as well

as outside under the stars. The kit comes with a

35-minute training video. Other training needs

will be met though teleconferences and regional

workshops. The Night Sky Network beta Web

What is Your Cosmic Connection to the

Elements?

James Lochner, USRA and NASA GSFC

“What is Your Cosmic Connection to the

Elements?” is a new high school level poster and

teacher guide from the Imagine the Universe!

E/PO group at NASA GSFC. It discusses our

connection to the chemical elements and their

cosmic origins. The poster visually connects

selected elements created in the Big Bang, stars,

supernovae, and cosmic rays to objects around

us and the elements within us. The back of the

poster contains panels with descriptions of these

processes that teachers can display with the

poster, as well as usage notes and a classroom

activity. The teacher guide describes in detail the

processes by which the elements are made and

the overall composition of the universe.

The teacher guide also contains eight

classroom activities which highlight different

aspects of the origins of the elements. For

example, in “Kinesthetic Big Bang” students act

out the nucleosynthesis of hydrogen, deuterium,

and helium in the first few minutes after the Big

Bang. “Cosmic Shuffle” is a card game for

forming the fusion processes that occur in stars.

In “What’s Out There?” students calculate the

abundance of elements in different substances

whose composition is modeled using common

kitchen staples. In “Nickel-odeon,” students

listen to the spectra of different elements by

playing them on a musical keyboard. In

“Grandma’s Apple Pie,” students put it all

together by tracing the origin of the elements that

are in an apple pie. These and the other activities

“Cosmic Connections” Poster.

were developed by teachers who attended the

“Elements 2002” workshop at NASA GSFC in

August 2002.

The text for the booklet and the activities are

posted on the Imagine the Universe! Web site at

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/

elements . Hardcopies of the poster and teacher

guide can also be ordered from the Web site.
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The PlanetQuest activity kit.

site, launched in July 2003, promotes communitybuilding within the network and allows online

enrollment.

Twenty-nine Night Sky Network astronomy

clubs in 23 different states are now evaluating the

effectiveness of the program and the PlanetQuest

kit with students, families, and the general public

in a variety of venues. As Barry Beaman with the

Rockford Amateur Astronomers in Illinois

reported, “Our first try and it was spectacular!”

Early next year, PlanetQuest kits will be

distributed to several hundred clubs around the

country which agree to host at least ten events a

year using these materials. A second kit focused

on the expanding universe and black holes is being

developed with the involvement of the Universe!

Education Forum. Arming astronomy clubs with

materials, training, and a vibrant network will

create increasingly effective ways for NASA to

inspire and inform students and the public.

The Night Sky Network joins a growing list

of outreach initiatives working with amateur

astronomers. Examples include Cassini’s Saturn

Observation Campaign, the Deep Impact

observing campaign, the Sun-Earth Connection

Education Forums’s after-school astronomy club

program, the Space Place astro club newsletter

program, and NASA’s Solar System Ambassador

program (see story on page 4 - a number of

Ambassadors are amateur astronomers).

For additional information on the Night Sky

Network, see http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov .

Artist illustration - Cassini at Saturn.

Saturn Observation Campaign

Alice Wessen, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Armed with contagious enthusiasm and oddlooking telescopes and/or powerful binoculars

they usually set up camp around dusk. They talk

about Saturn and its magnificent rings while

waiting for the proper moment. Once their target

is in sight, they point and fine-tune their

instruments. Then they finally share their

eyepieces and the shows begin.

They are the members of the Saturn

Observation Campaign, an effort by the Cassini

Outreach program to promote space exploration

and prime the public for the deluge of stunning

images and scientific data that the CassiniHuygens spacecraft will send when it arrives at

Saturn in July 2004. In 2002, the inaugural year

of the campaign, 140 space fans answered the call.

They came in all shapes and forms, lived across

the five continents and probably had little in

common other than their passion: to share their

love for space observation.

The Saturn Observation Campaign is open

to amateur and professional astronomers and

gives astronomers an opportunity to share their

knowledge and passion for space exploration

with their communities. Partnering with local

organizations, volunteers use their imagination

to hold fun and educational activities — whether

by organizing viewing events, giving lectures or

coordinating hands-on activities. For more

information on how to join the campaign and

stories from this year’s events, please see

http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov .
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 The Student Dust Counter team at the University of Colorado-Boulder includes (from left) Faculty Advisor Mihaly

Horanyi, Anselm Fernandez, Chelsey Bryant, James Mack, Tim Chanthawanich, Matt Colgan, Ervin Krauss, Mike

Neeland, New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, Vaughn Hoxie, Otto Krauss, Beth Grogan, Student Project

Manager Gene Holland, New Horizons Science Team Co-investigator Fran Bagenal, and Nick Bunch.

Students Design Dust Counter Instrument

for Pluto Mission

Mike Buckley, Johns Hopkins University Applied

Physics Laboratory

In what could be the ultimate distancelearning project, students from the University of

Colorado at Boulder are putting together an

instrument for NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft

that will travel billions of miles from Earth on a

journey to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt to study space

dust.

The Student Dust Counter, which is designed

to detect dust particles produced by collisions

between asteroids, comets and Kuiper Belt objects

will be the first science instrument on a NASA

planetary mission to be designed, built and

“flown” by students. With faculty supervision, the

students will also distribute data from the

instrument and lead a comprehensive effort to

bring their experiences to classrooms of all grade

levels over the next two decades.

New Horizons is scheduled to launch in 2006,

reach Pluto as early as 2015, and then explore at

least one object in the Kuiper Belt region beyond

Neptune. The Student Dust Counter could yield

important discoveries — no dust detector has ever

flown that far from the Sun. “The instrument could

give us the most detailed accounting yet of dust

particle concentrations in the outer solar system,”

says Dr. Alan Stern, New Horizons principal

investigator and director of the Southwest

Research Institute’s Space Studies Department in

Boulder.

“We have our work cut out for us, but that’s

why the project is so exciting,” says Gene

Holland, an aerospace engineering graduate

student and the instrument’s student project

manager. “The students feel like what they’re

doing will make a real difference.”

The team is currently developing a Web site

and preparing for a science and engineering peer

review by mission staffers as well as other

students. The team also plans to build high school

level curricular modules on topics like Pluto and

the Kuiper Belt, the role of dust in forming

planetary rings, and designing space

instruments.

“This team has a unique opportunity to both

educate and inspire the students who will follow

them,” says Dr. Fran Bagenal, a University of

Colorado astronomy professor and the science

leader on the New Horizons education-public

outreach team. “There are kids in kindergarten

today who could be working on this when New

Horizons reaches Pluto.”

For more information on the New Horizons

mission, see http://pluto.jhuapl.edu .
11

DePaul University Broker/Facilitator

DePaul University

The DePaul Space Science Center for

Education and Outreach serves as one of the seven

regional Broker/Facilitators funded by OSS to

encourage and facilitate the development of

partnerships between the space science and

education communities. DePaul University is

located in the heart of Chicago. As a Broker/

Facilitator the Space Science Center serves the

states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan,

Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. The DePaul

Broker/Facilitator team consists of Dr. Lynn

Narasimhan, a mathematician and currently the

Executive Director of the Center, astrophysicists

Dr. Jim Sweitzer and Dr. Bernhard Beck-Winchatz,

Director and Associate Director of the Center, Ms.

Karen Cullen, Assistant Director, and Ms. Victoria

Simek, Special Projects Manager.

As explained by Dr. Narasimhan,

“Our general approach as broker/

facilitators is to identify communities

of potential partners for space science

education initiatives, create

opportunities to assess the interests

and needs of the communities, and

collectively develop action plans to

address the needs. In the process, we

recruit small groups of advisors or

consultants from the communities

who act as our partners in developing

plans that are educationally or

operationally sound while being

NASA OSS NASA OSS

Support Network Profiles Support Network Profiles

This is the third in a series of articles which

highlights contributions of the organizations of the

NASA OSS E/PO Support Network (ESN). The 12

groups which make up the Support Network are

involved in coordinating and integrating the OSS

E/PO program. They provide a point of entry for

individuals and organizations wishing to participate

in the OSS E/PO program. A brochure describing the

Support Network can be found at

http://spacescience.nasa.gov/education/resources/

ecosystem/brochure_low_res.pdf .

accessible to or appropriate for the targeted

community.” As an example they have established

a Chicago Teachers’ Advisory whose purpose is

to develop ways to bring space science to the

students of Chicago Public Schools. Events

initiated by the Advisory have reached close to

400 teachers over the past four years and have

resulted in a number of self-sustaining projects in

space science.

A second example is their work with the Great

Lakes Planetarium Association (GLPA). Over half

of planetarium attendees in the United States visit

modest-sized planetariums like those of the GLPA.

These planetariums primarily serve K-12

audiences. The DePaul Broker/Facilitator

program has been helping to strengthen capability

for GLPA members through a small grants

programs, PLATO (see Voyages, issue 8), and by

brokering professional development in space

science to GLPA members.

The team is also deeply committed to serving

smaller groups with special needs. An example is

the work done by Beck-Winchatz who played a

pivotal role in helping to create and then publish

“Touch the Universe” (see Voyages, issue 7), a book

which featured Hubble images made tactile for the

visually impaired.

The DePaulBroker/Facilitator sees itself as a

learning organization committed to

understanding, serving and adapting to the

unique needs of educational communities in their

region. For more information, visit

http://analyzer.depaul.edu/NASABroker .

DePaul Broker Team: (L-R) Dr. Jim Sweitzer, Dr. Lynn Narasimhan,

Ms. Victoria Simek, Dr. Berhard Beck-Winchatz, Ms. Karen Cullen.
12

On the Horizon On the Horizon

If you would like to receive an electronic copy

of future newsletters, contribute an article or just

have questions about getting involved with the

NASA OSS E/PO Program, contact Larry Cooper,

Editor, at Larry.P.Cooper@nasa.gov . Prior

issues of Voyages are online at http://

spacescience.nasa.gov/education/news .

IDEAS Program Solicits E/PO Proposals

NASA’s Office of Space Science and the Space

Telescope Science Institute are pleased to

announce the opportunity to apply for an Initiative

to Develop Education through Astronomy and

Space Science (IDEAS) grant. The Call for

Proposals may be found at the program Web site

at http://ideas.stsci.edu .

The following are highlights from the Call:

• The grant provides start-up funding for

innovative, creative education and public outreach

programs that feature active collaboration

between astronomers/space scientists and formal

education/informal education professionals.

• Astronomy/space science must be the

primary area of focus used to promote science,

mathematics and/or technology education and/

or public outreach.

• Proposals may request:

- Up to $20,000 for programs to be completed

in one year. (Programs may request additional

time, up to two years, due to school schedules,

etc. which the panel review will consider.); OR

- From $20,001 to $50,000 for programs which

may request up to two years to complete.

The deadline for submitting a 2003 IDEAS

grant proposal is October 24, 2003, 5:00 PM EDT.

If you are interested in more information regarding

IDEAS, please send email to ideas@stsci.edu.

SUN-EARTH DAY 2004: VENUS TRANSIT

Starting at sunrise on June 8, 2004, the planet

Venus will be visible as it moves across the face of

the early morning sun. (Always use safe viewing

procedures!) For actual viewing locations and

times, go to http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/

sunearthday . The last time humans witnessed

this event was on December 8, 1882 when it was

watched by millions of people across the world,

from the crowded streets of Bombay to the deserts

of the American southwest.

The Sun-Earth Day Web site is loaded with

fascinating resources for students and teachers, as

NASA’s Office of Space Science hosts “Transit of

Venus” its 2004 ‘Big Event’ for Sun-Earth Day.

This year’s goals include:

• Sharing OSS Space Science mission’s

research with formal and informal education

communities.

• Supporting an education and public

outreach event that will celebrate Sun-Earth

Connections to the transit of Venus.

• Sharing the significance of the transit of

Venus research and observations via cultural

stories, history, interviews, web links, and

activities.

Educational Programs will include:

• A NASA/CONNECT TV program about

how the transit of Venus set the scale of the Solar

System.

• Student Observation Network study of the

transit of Venus using a simple and safe solar

telescope.

• Student lab experiment on calculating the

Astronomical Unit with transit observations.

• Multi-curricular resources in science, math,

history, literature, arts and music.

• The Solar-Planetary Connection including

Venus our Sister Planet.

• A Web cast of the entire transit from Spain.

• Web chats and interviews with scientists

discussing why Venus and Earth are so different.

• Online archives of Transit images taken by

amateur and professional telescopes.

• Library of Congress materials and other

historical documents from past transits.

• Exoplanet Research.

For more information see http://

sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/sunearthday .

or contact for

Formal Education: Elaine Lewis

lewis@mail630.gsfc.nasa.gov

Informal Outreach: Sten Odenwald

odenwald@mail630.gsfc.nasa.gov

Web site/Multimedia: Troy Cline

cline@mail630.gsfc.nasa.gov