Category Archives: Education

North Carolina girls build Mars rover for museum exhibit

Thirteen year-old Camille Beatty and her sister Genevieve are building robots with their dad at Beatty Robotics “Family fun with mechatronics”. They are getting attention for a Mars Rover style robot that will be used in a display at the New York Hall of Science, where visitors can control the robot as it traverses simulated Martian terrain: Schoolgirls Build Homemade Mars Rover You Can Drive – Space.com

The girls post updates on their robot  projects along with images and videos on the Workshop Blog.

Crowd-funding student experiments on the ISS

The original Teachers in Space program led by Ed Wright became Citizens in Space, which has reserved 10 flights aboard the XCOR Lynx suborbital spaceplane for teachers as well as other citizen space explorers

Meanwhile, the Space Frontier Foundation continued its own Teachers in Space project and they currently have a crowd-funding campaign to send student experiments to the International Space Station: Fly Student Experiment Mission to ISS 2014 | RocketHub

Our 2014 launch cost will be $25,000 and We Need Your Help!  Our 2010 NASA Educational Outreach Grant expires the end of August 2013.  We’re running a RocketHub crowdfunding campaign just this month of August 2013 to support next year’s launch, and asking everyone we know to please contribute whatever you can.  Even $5 from everyone who sees this mail will easily get us there, especially if you then forward this mail to everyone you know!  We have some great incentives for you, from mission patches to SpaceX tshirts to signed books about the New Space Frontier.  You can even have a Skype Session or a personal visit from one of our Teachers in Space!

250 teachers have attended our workshops and taken glider lessons, launched tracked and recovered high altitude balloons, learned Arduino programming, built and worked with data sensors, and worked with their students to design experiments for our International Space Station experiment launch competition.  We’ve received ongoing support for the workshops from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and other partners, but we dearly need YOUR support to cover the cost of our 2014 ISS launch.  Please will you help and get others to do the same?

A beginners guide to astronomy

Astronomy newbies should check out the Beginners Guide To Astronomy at Learn Astronomy HQ:

This guide covers how to get started cheaply in astronomy and then progresses to a guide to telescopes and what to consider when buying a telescope. Once you have your equipment the guide covers setting up a telescope, what to start out observing, how to develop your knowledge of the night sky and provides a list of uk astronomy equipment to begin expanding your range and skills.

“Out There: A Small Guide to a Big Universe” – Shurtleff & Latrell

Steve Shurtleff and Joe Latrell have a new book titled, Out There – A Small Guide To A Big Universe

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Space is a really big place. The Earth, the Sun, and all the other planets live in a relatively quiet corner of an average sized Galaxy in a pretty nice cosmic neighborhood. There is plenty of space, lush nebulae and families of stars that pretty much keep to themselves. It’s a great place to be.

Let’s Go Exploring

While we can’t yet warp to other planets to get a close-up look, we have learned a lot about our place in the universe. Robotic probes, powerful telescopes, and human ingenuity have given us the ambition to not only ask questions, but also get answers about our place in the cosmos.

This book is simple guide to the Universe. It doesn’t explain everything, but it does cover some of the more intriguing spectacles and wonders. It’s data that we have discovered in our search to understand where we fit into the universe.

It’s Only An Hour Away By Car

Space is big, but it’s very close to us. You could get there in an hour if your car could go straight up. When we look at the universe, we see distances that just boggle the mind. ‘Out There’ helps you make sense of the numbers by relating them to items and ideas you might come across every day.

Join us in taking a quick adventure around our cosmic block. We’ll learn about some of the wonderful sights to see ‘Out There.’ Grab your ‘Small Guide to a Big Universe’ and let’s get started!

Last Chance – Reach for the Stars ~ National Rocket Competition

A message from Jack Colpas The Rocketman:

Less than 2 months to get your kids into the 7th annual Reach for the Stars ~ National Rocket Competition.   

Deadline August 31st

To help you get started we are including a FREE Launch Set (value over $25) with every order for one dozen or more Competitor Packs (less than $14 each)

Competitor Packs include: rocket kit, supplies for 2 launches, certificate & Registration in the national competition.

Total cost – $165 for 12 Competitor Packs & Launch Set – delivered to you.
Available from Estes or Quest.

Competition is held at your location. No travel hassle or expense.
www.TheRocketman.net

E-mail or call for details.   Limited time offer

 Your kids can’t win it – if they’re not in it!