a bright, blinking satellite now orbiting Earth, visible to the naked eye in the night sky. Launched on #StillTesting, The Humanity Star is designed to encourage everyone to look up and consider our place in the universe.
More about the project:
Visible from space with the naked eye, the Humanity Star is a highly reflective satellite that blinks brightly across the night sky to create a shared experience for everyone on the planet.
Created by Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck, the Humanity Star is a geodesic sphere made from carbon fibre with 65 highly reflective panels. It spins rapidly, reflecting the sun’s rays back to Earth, creating a flashing light that can be seen against a backdrop of stars.
Orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes and visible from anywhere on the globe, the Humanity Star is designed to be a bright symbol and reminder to all on Earth about our fragile place in the universe.
The sphere will stay in orbit for about 9 months. You can use the tracking app on the website to find when it will pass over your location.
— Challenge Allows Students Ages 13-18 to Submit
Flight Concepts for Microgravity Research —
–Two Student Projects Will be Selected and Launched
to the International Space Station —
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (January 10, 2018) – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and Marvel Entertainment today announced the Guardians of the Galaxy Space Station Challenge is open for American students ages 13-18 to submit microgravity flight experiment concepts that could be conducted on the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory. The contest focuses on Rocket and Groot, characters from the Guardians of the Galaxy comic book franchise, and students are encouraged to develop flight proposals based on the attributes of these Super Heroes. The contest will run through January 31, 2018. After the contest concludes, two student-submitted flight concepts will see their vision turned into reality and become an official ISS National Lab investigation, launching to the space station in 2018.
In 2016, CASIS and Marvel partnered to develop a mission patch featuring Rocket and Groot that represented all ISS National Lab investigations from the calendar year. Now the two entities seek to engage and excite American students by providing a truly unique opportunity to send experiments to the space station inspired by Rocket and Groot in far-reaching scientific areas.
The contest is divided into two separate research opportunities: TeamRocket, and Team Groot. Students with an interest in materials sciences, engineering and enabling technology development are encouraged to submit flight concepts through Team Rocket – Who has strong ties to innovation and engineering. Students interested in fundamental biological and regenerative science concepts are encouraged to submit flight proposals under Team Groot – Who is the embodiment of genetics and plant biology.
The student(s) who submit flight concepts through the challenge will be asked to explain their flight experiment proposal, and ultimately how microgravity has the potential to enhance findings that otherwise can be explored on Earth-based laboratory settings. Additionally, students will be asked to consider the size of their proposal experiment. Winning concepts will be housed in a NanoRacks NanoLab (in partnership with education partner DreamUp) and Space Tango’s TangoLab, which are both project facilities that are currently flying aboard the ISS National Lab and provide investigators the ability to access microgravity for a wide variety of research.
“The ability to partner with a brand as recognizable as Marvel to bring awareness, opportunity and excitement to our nation’s students is a great way to bridge the comic book community with the space community to advance Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education,” said CASIS Director of Operations and Educational Opportunities Kenneth Shields. “Both Rocket and Groot have characteristics that are researched onboard the ISS daily, and to allow students to propose experiments based on their favorite Super Heroes will be an exciting way to engage our Nation’s youth about STEM principles and the space station.”
To learn more about this challenge, including previous experiments conducted on the ISS, and how to submit a proposal, please visit: www.spacestationexplorers/marvel
About CASIS: The Center for Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) is the non-profit organization selected to manage the ISS National Laboratory with a focus on enabling a new era of space research to improve life on Earth. In this innovative role, CASIS promotes and brokers a diverse range of research in life sciences, physical sciences, remote sensing, technology development, and education.
Since 2011, the ISS National Lab portfolio has included hundreds of novel research projects spanning multiple scientific disciplines, all with the intention of benefitting life on Earth. Working together with NASA, CASIS aims to advance the nation’s leadership in commercial space, pursue groundbreaking science not possible on Earth, and leverage the space station to inspire the next generation.
About the ISS National Laboratory: In 2005, Congress designated the U.S. portion of the International Space Station as the nation’s newest national laboratory to maximize its use for improving life on Earth, promoting collaboration among diverse users, and advancing STEM education. This unique laboratory environment is available for use by other U.S. government agencies and by academic and private institutions, providing access to the permanent microgravity setting, vantage point in low Earth orbit, and varied environments of space.
The enhanced Juno images of Jupiter’s clouds never get old. New ones are now available from the tenth low pass (perijove) over the multi-colored clouds of the gas giant.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft was a little more than one Earth diameter from Jupiter when it captured this mind-bending, color-enhanced view of the planet’s tumultuous atmosphere.
Jupiter completely fills the image, with only a hint of the terminator (where daylight fades to night) in the upper right corner, and no visible limb (the curved edge of the planet).
Juno took this image of colorful, turbulent clouds in Jupiter’s northern hemisphere on Dec. 16, 2017 at 9:43 a.m. PST (12:43 p.m. EST) from 8,292 miles (13,345 kilometers) above the tops of Jupiter’s clouds, at a latitude of 48.9 degrees.
The spatial scale in this image is 5.8 miles/pixel (9.3 kilometers/pixel).
Citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran processed this image using data from the JunoCam imager.
JunoCam’s raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at:
TMG Space Camp Scholarship Applications are now open through January 15, 2018.
This scholarship is for 100% of the tuition to 1 week of space camp (July 7-14, 2018) and includes a flight suit, transportation and a small spending stipend. The total value is approximately $3,000.
Welcome students! We are happy you are here. Please review the application requirements below to make sure you qualify before applying. If you choose to apply, please make sure you complete all 3 parts of the application by January 15, 2018 to be considered for selection.
Applications are due no later than 11:59 pm CST on January 15, 2018
Family must qualify for the USDA free and reduced lunch program. We do require verification of your family qualification of the USDA free and reduced lunch program if you are awarded a scholarship.
Must live in the continental U.S. (Lower 48 states)
Must be able to attend Space Camp the week of July 7-14, 2018
Have never attended Space Camp USA in Huntsville, Alabama
Must be between the age of 15-17 as of July 1, 2018.
Application must be submitted by 11:59pm January 15, 2018
Application for the scholarship consists of 3 parts:
Student will need to create and submit a short video (under 3 minutes) introducing themselves and explaining why STEM education and/or space exploration are important to the future of humankind. Students should also talk about why they think they would benefit from attending Space Camp. Videos will need to be emailed to scholarships@themarsgeneration.org with the student’s full name and words “Space Camp Scholarship Application 2018” in Subject line of the email as well as in the title of the video file.
*** If student is chosen to receive a scholarship their family will need to pay a $150 deposit at the time of accepting the scholarship. The deposit will be returned after the student attends Space Camp and upon submitting a video of the presentation.
Here is the latest Planetary Post with Robert Picardo courtesy the Planetary Society:
This video shows a Facebook “Giving Tuesday 2017” event held this past Tuesday with Picardo and the Society’s Bill Nye and Danielle Gunn. They talk about the various activities and projects of the Society such as the LightSail 2 solar sail that is to be launched in 2018:
