Category Archives: Education

Education, Space Models

A new ISS on board the ISS

Another space station orbited the earth recently:

It took more than 200 astronauts from 12 countries more than a dozen years to build the International Space Station (ISS). Satoshi Furukawa, an astronaut from Japan, matched that feat in just about two hours — and he did it all while aboard the orbiting outpost itself.

It helped that his space station was made out of LEGO.

LEGO_ISS_on_ISS_425x307

More LEGOs in space at LEGOspace.com.

See also the HobbySpace Modeling section.

Astronomy, Education

Videos: Intro to Astronomy – Planetary Society

 The Planetary Society offers a variety of videos including a  couple of videos from an introductory astronomy course taught by Bruce Betts at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Intro Astronomy 2013. Class 1: Tour of the Solar System | The Planetary Society

Intro Astronomy 2013. Class 2: How We Explore Space | The Planetary Society

Astronomy, Education, Space Science

Virtual Space TV 3D – February 2013

We have posted the February episode of the Virtual SpaceTV 3D series. These are created by BINARY SPACE with story content from HobbySpace.com.

In this new show, Amanda Bush and James C. Birk talk about asteroids, asteroids and asteroids…
00:00 – 02:26 Asteroid 2012 DA14
02:27 – 03:25 Meteor Shower in Chelyabinsk
03:26 – 05:10 Deep Space Industries
05:11 – 07:05 Bigelow Aerospace
07:06 – 07:57 Curiosity Update

Other Virtual SpaceTV 3D shows are available on the  HobbySpace Youtube Channel.

These videos are intended as educational programs and as demonstrations of an experimental technique for generating animated presentations. The show was generated autonomously by software according to a text script. The project is described in the Virtual Producer whitepaper (pdf). For further information contact info@binary-space.com.

Astronomy, Education

Astrobites – making leading edge astrophysics readable

The astrobites (astro-ph reader’s digest) project seeks to present the latest reports on leading edge astrophysics research in a way that is understandable at an undergraduate level.

 Astrobites is a daily literature journal summarizing new astrophysical research posted to astroph. Astrobites is written by graduate students for undergraduates. Read more about our goals.

For example, much of this description of a paper on exoplanets around M dwarf stars should be comprehensible by even non-science undergrads: The Frequency of (Habitable?) Planets Around M dwarfs – astrobites.

Amateur/Student Satellite, Education

ArduSat Academy Summer Program 2013

An announcement from Nanosatisfi:

ArduSat Academy Launches 4 Week Space Experience

NanoSatisfi, LLC is pleased to announce that registration is now open for ArduSat Academy Summer Program 2013. Ardusat Academy is an opportunity for students, hackers, makers, DIY space enthusiasts, and anyone interested in space, science, or programming to learn how to devise and prepare their own satellite-based experiment. Building on the ArduSat initiative to make space accessible to all, ArduSat Academy gives participants the tools they need to best make use of that opportunity.

“In just four weeks, anyone can design and program their own space-based experiment or experience,” says ArduSat Academy Program Director Merryl Azriel. “This isn’t just a project to keep you busy through yet another summer: this is the real deal, with a real satellite.”
Participants will discover the nuts and bolts of satellite operations, explore the capabilities of ArduSat’s sensor suite, learn to program and assemble Arduinos, and design and test a program to execute their experiments in orbit. This summer, participants will also be able to witness the July launch of ArduSat-1 and meet with the engineers that made it all happen.
The four week program will run June 24 through July 19, with morning, afternoon, and weekend sessions available. $2000 will get you in the program, which will be held in the San Francisco metropolitan area. No prior experience is necessary. All ages 13 years and above are welcome.

For more details about ArduSat Academy Summer Program 2013 and to register, visit us at ardusatacademy.org.

About NanoSatisfi, LLC
San Francisco-based NanoSatisfi formed in the summer of 2012, with a mission of providing convenient, affordable, on-demand access to satellites. NanoSatisfi’s founders together combine experience at 9 universities, in 8 companies, in 7 languages, and on 3 continents. NanoSatisfi prides itself on being free from the old mindset of “space costs millions and take years,” and is devoted to making space accessible and affordable for everyone. The company’s first two satellites were crowdfunded via a Kickstarter campaign. The results of that campaign – a space-based application platform comprised of an AVR/Arduino based computer in a CubeSat standard with a freely programmable micro-processor and 25 sensors – will launch with NanoRacks in the summer of 2013. Learn more at www.nanosatisfi.com.