Category Archives: Education

Education, Space Arts

Space art contest winners gather at National Space Symposium

A report on the space art contest at the 29th National Space Symposium  (see also the earlier report: 2013 Space Foundation student art contest winners selected – Space-for-All at HobbySpace):

Art Contest Award Reception Attracts Student Winners
from Across the U.S.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 8, 2013) – The 36 winners of the 2013 Space Foundation International Student Art Contest were invited to attend the Space Foundation’s 29th National Space Symposium, being held at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs this week.

Grand Prize, 3rd-5th grade and 1st Place, 3rd-5th Grade, Drawing Vincent Zheng
Vincent Zheng – Grand Prize, 3rd-5th grade and 1st Place,
3rd-5th Grade, Drawing 

Young artists from 12 countries were selected for the top slots from among more than 4,700 entries representing 45 countries, including 38 U.S. states and territories – the largest response since the contest began three years ago.

Surprisingly, nine of the student artists and their families from across the U.S. plan to attend the Space Symposium’s April 10 art contest reception, including:

Poem Shiuey, Meyerholz Elementary School, San Jose, Calif.
Grand Prize, PreK- 2nd Grade and 1st Place, PreK- 2nd Grade, Painting and Mixed Media

Vincent Zheng, SKA Academy of Art and Design, Duluth, Ga.
Grand Prize, 3rd-5th grade and 1st Place, 3rd-5th Grade, Drawing

Skylar Duncan, The Colorado Springs School, Colorado Springs, Colo.
1st Place, 3rd-5th Grade, Painting and Mixed Media

Bryan Montenegro, The Mirman School, Los Angeles, Calif.
2nd Place, 3rd-5th Grade, Digital

Edwin SJ Nah, St. James Episcopal School, Los Angeles, Calif.
2nd Place, 6th-8th Grade, Painting and Mixed Media

Koty Thomas, Penn Trafford High School, Harrison City, Pa.
3rd Place, 9th-12th Grade, Painting and Mixed Media

Raquel Arens, Air Academy High School, Colorado Springs, Colo.
1st Place, 9th-12th Grade, Digital

Sydney-Paige Kay, Jericho Senior High School, Jericho, N.Y.
2nd Place, 9th-12th Grade, Digital

Ananya Jain, Jericho Senior High School, Jericho, N.Y.
3rd Place, 9th-12th Grade, Digital

The students will meet former NASA astronaut Dr. Leroy Chiao at the reception, and will receive ribbons and prizes co-sponsored by Fisher Space Pen. Dr. Chiao is Space Foundation special advisor – human spaceflight.

About the Contest
The Space Foundation invited students from around the world in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade to submit original artwork depicting the theme, If I Were Going…, challenging them to imagine how they would personally experience space travel, exploration or settlement and then interpret that idea into an original work of visual art.

Where to See the Artwork
Winning artwork submitted for this year’s contest can be seen on the Space Foundation website photo gallery at www.spacefoundation.org/media/photo-galleries, and at www.artsonia.com/museum in the If I Were Going… Space Foundation art gallery.

Learn more about the annual Space Foundation International Student Art Contest by visiting www.spacefoundation.org/education.

Education, Space Collecting

First annual Astronauts4Hire on line silent auction

Astronauts4Hire is holding their First Annual Online A4H Silent Auction

The funds raised from this year’s auction, which runs from Sunday, April 7th until Friday, April 12th, will be used to support A4H’s educational outreach program, furthering the A4H mission: “To increase the competitiveness of commercial astronaut candidates by providing skills training, facilitating forums for candidate communication, engaging the space research community, and inspiring the next generation.”

The auction is “held in conjunction with Yuri’s Night events across the globe”: 2013 A4H Silent Auction – Astronauts4Hire.

The items up for auction were generously donated by A4H friends, members, and partners, and range from collectible NASA spaceflight memorabilia, autographed books, and unique patches, to lifetime Associate memberships in Astronauts4Hire. We would like to thank everyone who donated an item for this year’s auction, for without you and our supporters, we would not be able to carry out the A4H mission.

 

Activism, Education, Living in Space

The Space Show: Joan Vernikos & Inspiration Mars + Elizabeth Kennick & Teachers in Space

Joan Vernikos on the Space Show on Friday discussed the Inspiration Mars flyby mission and the “human factors, counter measures, mitigation strategies” involved in such a mission: Dr. Joan Vernikos, Friday, 4-5-13 – Thespaceshow’s Blog.

On Thursday, Elizabeth Kennick of the Teachers in Space program at the Space FrontierFoundation gave an update on TIS activities and also talked about Yuri’s Night and the Yuri’s Night NYC 2013 event in particular: Elizabeth Kennick, Teachers In Space, Thursday, 4-4-13 – Thespaceshow’s Blog

 

Education, In Space Infrastructure

SciShow looks at space trash

Hank of SciShow talks about space debris and possible ways to reduce it:

Background materials can be found at SciShow 2 April 2013 References – Google Drive

Contests and Games, Education, Space Settlement

NAS’s eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) Challenge invites student team applications

NASA’s  eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge invites student teams to submit proposals for systems for deep-space habitats for the 2013-2014 round of the program. (See also this recent report on the 2013 projects: 2013 X-Hab Innovation Challenge Progress Update – NASA – Feb.11.13)

College and university students now have a chance to help design a deep-space habitat. The Exploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge, first offered in 2010, is now accepting applications for the 2014 challenge.

But they need to act fast. May 1, 2013 is the deadline for student teams to submit their plans for designing, manufacturing, assembling and developing test systems for use on NASA’s deep-space habitat prototype.

X-Hab

The eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge
is a university-level competition designed to engage and retain students
in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines.

Past projects have included an inflatable loft for crew sleeping quarters, plant growth systems, sample handling tools, stowage systems and habitat layout designs. This year, students from multiple disciplines may choose projects from a variety of possibilities such as photovoltaic solar arrays, in-space manufacturing workstations, virtual window telepresence systems and habitation systems. Students will work together on potential solutions to the challenges future astronauts may face as they live and work farther and farther away from Earth.

“X-Hab is a win-win for NASA and students — human space exploration greatly benefits from students’ energy and creative designs, and students get a terrific boost from their direct interaction with NASA experts,” said Lora Bailey, Deep Space Habitat project manager at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We all share in the excitement that student designs could become the basis for future human habitat technologies and concepts!”

The X-Hab Challenge is part of a continuing effort to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, and provide a real-world challenge exposing them to engineering and design processes. NASA will benefit directly from the innovative habitation-related concepts and technologies.

The challenge is run by the National Space Grant Foundation for the Deep Space Habitat project team at Johnson, a part of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Program. The goal of for the X-Hab Challenge is to help NASA inspire the workforce and explorers of the future. Winners will receive between $10,000 and $20,000 to produce functional products based on their designs. Proposals are due May 1, and awardees should expect to deliver their product to NASA in May or June 2014.

To learn more about the X-Hab Challenge, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/x-hab
http://www.spacegrant.org/xhab/