Here’s a local news report about the JP Aerospace flight sponsored by KLM, which was running a contest to provide a ticket for a ride on a XCOR Lynx suborbital spaceplane to the person who submitted the closest estimate for the altitude where the balloon burst: JPA News Story on ABC – JP Aerospace Blog.
A NASA outreach effort with the MAVEN Mars orbiter:
NASA Invites Public to Send Names And Messages to Mars
WASHINGTON — NASA is inviting members of the public to submit their names and a personal message online for a DVD to be carried aboard a spacecraft that will study the Martian upper atmosphere.
The DVD will be in NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft, which is scheduled for launch in November. The DVD is part of the mission’s Going to Mars Campaign coordinated at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (CU/LASP).
![MAVEN-web-shot[1]](https://i0.wp.com/hobbyspace.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/MAVEN-web-shot1.jpg?resize=513%2C478)
The DVD will carry every name submitted. The public also is encouraged to submit a message in the form of a three-line poem, or haiku. However, only three haikus will be selected. The deadline for all submissions is July 1. An online public vote to determine the top three messages to be placed on the DVD will begin July 15.
“The Going to Mars campaign offers people worldwide a way to make a personal connection to space, space exploration, and science in general, and share in our excitement about the MAVEN mission,” said Stephanie Renfrow, lead for the MAVEN Education and Public Outreach program at CU/LASP.
Participants who submit their names to the Going to Mars campaign will be able to print a certificate of appreciation to document their involvement with the MAVEN mission.
“This new campaign is a great opportunity to reach the next generation of explorers and excite them about science, technology, engineering and math,” said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from CU/LASP. “I look forward to sharing our science with the worldwide community as MAVEN begins to piece together what happened to the Red Planet’s atmosphere.”
MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere. The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars’ atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the surface.
“This mission will continue NASA’s rich history of inspiring and engaging the public in spaceflight in ongoing Mars exploration,” said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
MAVEN’s principal investigator is based at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The university will provide science operations, science instruments and lead Education and Public Outreach. Goddard manages the project and provides two of the science instruments for the mission. Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colo., built the spacecraft and is responsible for mission operations. The University of California at Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory provides science instruments for the mission. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., provides navigation support, the Deep Space Network and the Electra telecommunications relay hardware and operations.
To participate in the Going to Mars campaign, visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/maven/goingtomars
For more information on MAVEN, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/maven
Uwingu announces a new campaign:
Uwingu Launches World’s First ‘Adopt-a-Planet’ Campaign
Space company Uwingu announces the launch of the world’s first ‘Adopt-a-Planet’ campaign. This open-ended campaign gives anyone in the public—worldwide—the opportunity to adopt planets around other stars at www.uwingu.com.
May 1, 2013 – BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder, Colorado— Today, space company UwinguTM announced the launch of the world’s first ‘Adopt-a-Planet’ campaign. This open-ended campaign gives anyone in the public—worldwide—the opportunity to adopt exoplanets in astronomical databases via Uwingu’s web site at www.uwingu.com. Proceeds from the naming and voting will continue to help fuel new Uwingu grants to fund space exploration, research, and education.
In Uwingu’s Adopt-a-Planet campaign, any nominated name that reaches 1,000 votes will qualify its namer to adopt the exoplanet of their choice with that name. Winners can choose which planet they would like to name from exoplanet lists created by astronomers.
Adopted planets and the planet’s name’s originator will be publicized by Uwingu. Additionally, the namer will receive $100 in Uwingu store credits, an adoption certificate, and links to in-depth information about their adopted planet. The first 10 names to reach adoption status will receive $500 in Uwingu naming/voting credits as a bonus.
Uwingu will also give recognition to names that reach thresholds of 100 and 500 votes as they climb toward adoption eligibility.
“This is a great way for the worldwide public to connect to the sky and space!” said Uwingu CEO and astronomer Dr. Alan Stern. Stern continued, “In our Adopt-a-Planet campaign every person who nominates a planet can win, and at their own pace, knowing they are funding space research and education along the way.”
Uwingu’s current “baby book” of names is growing daily, with over 1,240 names submitted to date.
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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission will take off in 2016 on a mission to visit the near-Earth carbonaceous asteroid (101955) . It will grab a sample of the object and bring it back to earth for analysis.
The name 101955 is, to say the least, a bit boring. So the University of Arizona (home of the OSIRIS-REx mission lead team), The Planetary Society and MIT Lincoln Laboratory (the home institution of the discoverers of the asteroid) sponsored a contest to give it a new name.
Today it was announced that the name Bennu was selected. It was proposed by Mike Puzio, age 9, of North Carolina. He said
that the large heron-like Touch-and-Go Sample Mechanism (TAGSAM) arm and winged OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made him think of Bennu. Puzio stated, “The winged OSIRIS-REx and its heron-like TAGSAM evoke attributes of Bennu, as does the egg shape of the asteroid itself.”
Bennu was an important avian deity in ancient Egypt and one of the symbols of the god Osiris. Egyptians usually depicted Bennu as a gray heron. The double nature of asteroids delivering life’s molecules and sometimes bringing destruction such as the recent fall in Chelyabinsk, Russia, inspired the mission name, OSIRIS-REx, and now the asteroid’s name.
More here:
Yesterday. Virgin Galactic‘s SpaceShipTwo (SS2)vehicle made its first rocket powered test flight. VG has created an education program called Galactic Unite with STEM lesson plans based around the SS2 test flights: Galactic Unite Lesson Plans are now live! – Virgin Galactic
These aim to engage and inspire educators and students around Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo test flight milestones.
These aim to engage and inspire educators and students around Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo test flight milestones. You can now download free lesson plans, activities and resources from http://virg.in/zUehN , which are pitched at students aged 5-18. Teachers can use these to enhance technology and engineering lessons, as well as help develop aerospace career paths for students around the world. We hope this encourages many more fledgling rocket scientists out there to reach for the stars!
Stay tuned for more exciting news about Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo and our educational programs via our Galactic Unite website or Virgin Galactic website, Twitter and Facebook.
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And here is a description of the lesson plans at Virgin Unite – Galactic Unite:
Galactic Unite Lessons Plans for Educators
Virgin Galactic and Galactic Unite announce the first of their lesson plans and resources!
These aim to engage and inspire educators and students around Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo test flight milestones. You can now download free lesson plans, activities and resources below, which are pitched at students aged 5-18. Teachers can use these to enhance technology and engineering lessons, as well as help develop aerospace career paths for students around the world. We hope this encourages many more fledgling rocket scientists out there to reach for the stars!
The lesson plans are available here:
Lesson Plan #1: Paper Airplane Designs for Safe Landings
As with the glider test flights of SpaceShipTwo, the most important part to ensure a successful mission is the ability to secure a safe landing. Test a design’s effect on an aircraft’s landing ability with the first lesson plan ‘Paper Airplane Designs for Safe Landings’ where students will create different paper airplane designs, test and study them, to see which ones land the safest.
Lesson Plan #2: WhiteKnightTwo
In the second lesson plan, explore all the ins-and-outs of WhiteKnightTwo, one of the most unique aircrafts in the skies!
Lesson Plan #3: The Design and Test Flight Milestones of SpaceShipTwo
There are a lot of steps you have to take before you can go into space! In the third lesson plan, follow the timeline of SpaceShipTwo from design, to building the aircraft, and successful test flights.
Lesson Plan #4: Careers in Aerospace
Space exploration and commercial space travel is a growing field. In this final lesson plan, students will learn about potential careers in aerospace.
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Test Flight Lesson Plans Student Survey
Stay tuned for more exciting news about Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo and our educational programs via our Galactic Unite website or Virgin Galactic website, Twitter and Facebook.
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A video of yesterday’s SS2 flight: