Resources of Activities for the Solar System
Mars Student Imaging Program
The Mars Student Imaging Program is using one of space exploration's most important inventions, satellite imaging. NASA and Arizona State University's Mars Education Program is offering students nationwide the opportunity to be involved in authentic Mars research by participating in the Mars Student Imaging Project (MSIP). Teams of students in the 5th through 12th grade will have the opportunity to work with scientists, mission planners and educators on the THEMIS team at ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility, to image a site on Mars using the THEMIS visible wavelength camera onboard the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, which is currently orbiting Mars every 2 hours.
NASA SpaceLink resources on Mars: http://spacelink.nasa.gov/Instructional.Materials/Curriculum.Support/Space.Science/Our.Solar.System/Mars/. Index.html
Arizona State University has links to great Mars Websites
http://marsed.asu.edu/
Messenger Mission
The official site for the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging mission. NASA has the following statement about why have this mission to Mercury:
“Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars are terrestrial (rocky) planets. Among these, Mercury is an extreme: the smallest, the densest (after correcting for self-compression), the one with the oldest surface, the one with the largest daily variations in surface temperature - and the least explored. Understanding this "end member" among the terrestrial planets is crucial to developing a better understanding of how our own Earth formed, how it evolved, and how it interacts with the Sun.”
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/
The Education section of the MESSENGER MISSION
http://btc.montana.edu/messenger/main/epo.php
Comparative Planetology
http://btc.montana.edu/messenger/teachers/MEMS_CompPlanetology.php
Students Think about Responsibility of Planetary Protection
Quoted from the National History Day Website:
"Science and technology provides another broad area of interest. The conflict between the rights and responsibilities of scientists could be illustrated by a performance on Galileo's experience with the Roman Inquisition in 1633 or a documentary about J. Robert Oppenheimer and other Manhattan Project scientists who came to doubt the wisdom of atomic and nuclear weapons. How has technology such as the printing press and television changed our views of rights and responsibilities?"
Astrobiology: What is that?
See the Ames Astrobiology Institute for an overview of astrobiology: http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/index.cfm
Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary field combining concepts in:
Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Earth and space science.
For lesson plans
NASA Astrobiology Institute education website: http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/teachers/index.cfm
See the TERC website: http://astrobio.terc.edu/
JPL website: http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/Education/astrobiology.htm
Astrobiology seeks to answer these questions:
What is the history of life on earth?
Is there anybody out there?
What is the future of life in universe?
Comparative Planetology: Is there life out there?
From the data and pictures sent back to Earth we know a lot about our solar system. We can make assumptions about which planets or moons in our solar system might have life or once may have had life. Astrobiology is the search for scientific information that supports these assumptions.
Scientists use lessons from earth to draw conclusions about life on other planets and the moons of the solar system. NASA has sent out spacecraft that have gathered information in the following ways: Flybys (Voyager), Orbiting planets and moons (Galileo), Landers (Viking 1, 2), Landers with rovers (Pathfinder and Sojourner Rover on Mars)
Greg Henry at TSU: http://schwab.tsuniv.edu/
Mars pathfinder: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/index1.html
Mars exploration: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov
Planet Quest: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/science/science_index.html
Establishing a virtual presence in the solar system http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/worlds/guide.html
University of Washington comparative planetology http://www.astro.washington.edu/labs/clearinghouse/labs/Compplanets/compplanets.html
Great links to comparative planetology http://www.geocities.com/r_rieser/Planetology.html
From the data and pictures sent back to Earth we know a lot about our solar system. We can make assumptions about which planets or moons in our solar system might have life or once may have had life. Astrobiology is the search for scientific information that supports these assumptions.
Creature Feature
Web site from Johnson Space Flight Center
Promotes the use of descriptive writing for scientific investigations. Students have to develop detailed observations of simulated life forms.
Internet Resources
The Nine Planets
http://www.nineplanets.org/
NASA Space Place information for students
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/
Official NASA site: Solar System games and activities
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/games.shtml
Official NASA site: Solar System
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/solar_system/
Official NASA site: Celestial Exploration Activity NASA Site excellent information and beautiful photographs of planets http://learn.arc.nasa.gov/planets/main/intro.html
NASA For Kids
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/home/index.html
Berkley Best of the Solar System Images
http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/segwayed/lessons/boss/student1.html
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