 |
Lunar Exploration |
The NASA/NSTA Symposium: Lunar Exploration took place at the Hilton Omaha Hotel
in Omaha, NE, on Friday, October 20, 2006. Eight educators were in attendance, including
three NASA Explorer School teachers. Five presenters worked with the group: Dr.
Susan Hoban and Dr. Anuradha Koratkar, from the University of Maryland Baltimore
County's Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center, Laurie Cook, from the University
of Maryland Baltimore County, and college students Albert Hill, and Brendan Shaughnessy,
from Wesleyan University and the University of New Mexico State, respectively. Their
presentations focused on impact craters, taking measurements, compounded error,
determining the size of craters on the Moon, history of lunar exploration, the use
of robots for exploration, and robotic control. NSTA would like to thank all the
participants and presenters for a job well done.
After an introductory administrative session during which Flavio Mendez, Symposia
and Web Seminars Program Manager at NSTA, familiarized participants with the contents
of their folders (including the agenda, talent release form, and pre-assessment),
participants were invited to make their own impact craters using candy balls as
impactors over plates containing flour and chocolate powder. Teachers enjoyed making
their own craters and tried different things, like throwing the impactors at different
angles and speeds to observe contrasting results. Dr. Hoban and Dr. Koratkar guided
this exercise offering ideas for the classroom and pointing at the different parts
of a crater. Immediately after this activity, the educators were asked to device
a plan to measure the round tables where they were sitting in the symposium room.
Different methods were used for measuring. Some teachers used their hands, others
used their fingers, and a few measured half the table and used different mathematical
formulas to obtain a result. Each participant's result was tabulated and analyzed.
Dr. Hoban proceeded to lead a discussion about compound error and the inexact science
of measurement. After this exercise, teachers were given a few handouts with photos
of lunar craters and were tasked with finding the diameter of these craters to determine
if a 9-meter size spacecraft could land safely inside them. The teachers used their
acquired knowledge from the previous exercise, rulers, and calculators to answer
the question.
Dr. Koratkar followed this activity with a presentation about exploration. She talked
about the different reasons humans explore - for financial reasons, to conquer other
territories, to search for religious freedom, and for knowledge. The latter is one
of the reasons humans are again interested in exploring the Moon. The return of
astronauts to the Moon is planned by 2020, this time, in contrast with the Apollo
missions of the late 1960s and early 1970s, NASA plans to establish a base on the
Moon where people will live for months at a time. Mr. Hill and Mr. Shaughnessy followed
Dr. Koratkar's presentation, with a talk about the history of lunar exploration,
from the ancients to today. At the end of the presentation they gave the teachers
an update on NASA's current plans for future space missions.
After a delicious lunch, the participants were asked to form two teams of 4 people
each. Each team was tasked to use a robot to explore the Moon and collect a lunar
rock sample for analysis. The two robots were role played by Laurie Cook and Flavio
Mendez. Since both robots were blindfolded, they had to depend completely in the
instructions delivered by their team members. All instructions for movement of the
robots had to be delivered in two-to-three short sentences, like "move two steps
forward, turn right 90 degrees." The Moon in this activity was an area outside the
symposium room were different obstacles, like chairs and tables, were placed for
the robots to navigate. The activity was an excellent team activity with different
roles for each member of the team. One person from each team was responsible for
drawing a detailed map of the obstacle course. Two people were responsible for calibrating
the robots and developing the robots' commands. The last person in the team was
responsible for communicating with the robot. The two teams did a great job working
together and making sure their robots navigated safely through the hostile terrain.
While the robots were outside the room walking through the obstacle course, all
participants could monitor their work via a webcam that was focused on the robots'
movements, simulating mission control.
The symposium concluded with a discussion about the activities and their application
in the classroom. Participants were also invited to attend four related web seminars
scheduled to take place in November, 2006. All participants received educational
materials from NASA and a certificate from NSTA stating the number of hours of participation.
Want to see more photos taken during the program? Check out the photo gallery below
and feel free to browse the program's agenda.
Symposium Presentations:
Impact craters:
PowerPoint presentation:
PDF file:
Location, Location, Location:
Word Documents:
Images:
Why do we explore:
PowerPoint presentation:
History of lunar exploration:
PowerPoint presentation:
Movie:
Audio:
Principles of remote exploration:
PDF files:
For more information contact symposia@nsta.org
Back to Top
|
|
Underwritten in part by NASA
|