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Living and Working in Space: Habitat |
NEEMO - Training for Space Travel!
The second of two web seminars on the topic of Living
and Working in Space: Habitat was held on Thursday, June 7, 2007, from 6:30 p.m.
to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. The presenter was Dr. Mary Sue
Bell, Planetary Geologist working in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration
Science Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Bell talked
about living and working in extreme environments. She specifically showcased the
work of NASA astronauts training in NOAA's Aquarius facility. The NASA missions
to Aquarius are called NEEMO. NEEMO stands for: NASA Extreme Environment Mission
Operations.
Thirty-five (35) participants were present at the live Web Seminar in addition to
the presenter and the NSTA staff. Participating educators represented the states
of Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
Others participants attended the program from Canada, Puerto Rico, New Zealand,
and Dubai.
NASA is working to design a research habitat that will allow six researchers to
live on the Moon or Mars for an extended period of time. In preparation for these
missions, NASA is collaborating with NOAA to train astronauts using NOAA's Aquarius
facility. The Aquarius is an underwater station located off the coast of Florida
where aquanauts spend up to 14 days living in an extreme environment. The presenter
gave a guided tour of the Aquarius and talked about how NASA is using it to prepare
its astronauts for extended missions to the Moon and Mars. All participants received
a copy of NSTA's SciGuide titled Solar System, grades 5-8.
Here are some comments provided by the participants at the end of the Web Seminar:
- "I teach students about extremophiles during our biology unit and this is another tool to help them learn how we study science here on earth to prepare us for space exploration in the future."
- "Can answer students' questions about living/working in space a lot better now that I've seen some examples on earth."
- "I include extreme environments in our study of Earth Structures and functions. This will support that unit of study and also support how scientists "prepare to study" other regions of our solar system."
- "I work at a hands-on science center with a new 25,000 square foot space expansion. We are always looking for exciting visitor programming. I hope to develop programming around working and living in space and NEEMO is a great example and resource to use."
Thanks to the participants and the presenters for the learning opportunity, the interactions, and a job well done!
Websites
For more information contact webseminars@nsta.org
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