This Week at NASA...
The NASA Science Day on Capitol Hill provided
an opportunity to showcase for members of
Congress and the public, the work and accomplishments
of the agency's Science programs.
Associate Administrator for Science John Grunsfeld
was among NASA officials at the event, which
included exhibits and presentations, on the
agency's work with asteroids and other Near
Earth Objects ...
"We want to know their size, we want to know
their shape, we want to know how they spin.
We want to know what they're made of."
Space observatories like the Hubble and James
Webb Space Telescopes ...
"Our ambition is to see as far back as you
could see.
To see the very first objects that formed
after the early universe."
And also discussed were planetary missions,
space weather and a host of other Science
programs conducted by NASA for the benefit
of all humankind.
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center recently
conducted a Technology Day, giving center
employees an opportunity to learn about the
diverse range of technologies being developed
by their colleagues, including air traffic
control innovations, fiber optic sensors and
a virtual desktop.
These projects not only have real-world applications
to aviation, but also potential in the consumer
market.
NASA research indicates that hunks of frozen
carbon dioxide, or dry ice may be responsible
for gullies seen on Martian sand dunes in
images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter.
Researchers believe the gullies are created
when the chunks of dry ice glide down the
sand dunes on cushions of gas, like mini-hovercraft.
Scientists came to this conclusion by examining
the images taken by MRO and performing experiments
on sand dunes in Utah and California.
Eleven robotics teams from the US, Canada
and Estonia competed for a possible $1.5 million
in prize money during the second NASA Centennial
Challenges Sample Return Robot Challenge at
Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
"Team Survey" of Los Angeles, the winning
squad was awarded $5,000 for successfully
completing Level 1 of the competition The
two-day challenge, designed to encourage innovations
in autonomous navigation and robotics technologies
is part of NASA's Space Technology Mission
Directorate.
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden handed out
certificates and congratulations to graduates
of the agency's Systems Engineering Leadership
Development Program during a recent ceremony
at NASA Headquarters.
"One of the things that is so good about this
and many of the other leadership training
programs we do is that it brings people together
from diverse backgrounds."
The year-long program includes mentoring,
coaching, technical training and developmental
assignments to help develop knowledge, skills,
and experience needed to meet the challenges
of systems engineering leadership at NASA.
Also at NASA headquarters, Associate Administrator
for Education, Leland Melvin welcomed a group
of students from Washington's Amidon-Bowen
Elementary School for the culmination of the
six week I'm an Engineer! program, which engages
students in Engineering Science and Technology
with activities such as build and testing
their own space vehicles.
"So all these people together, like your teachers,
your parents, the people here working, are
all a team to help you get to Mars one day,
right?"
Part of NASA's Beginning Engineering Science
and Technology, or BEST activity guides, the
I'm and Engineer! program is jointly sponsored
by the agency's Office of Education and the
Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity.
Goddard Space Flight Center recently welcomed
nearly 300 college students to an orientation
for the Center's 12-week summer internship
program.
The interns will get work experience in areas
ranging from the robotics lab to the Office
of Communications and have an opportunity
at the conclusion of the program to showcase
their accomplishments.
Programs like this help NASA engage students
in the science, technology, engineering and
math disciplines, as well as communications
and other areas vital to business.
Thirty years ago on June 18, 1983 the late
Sally Ride began her first spaceflight ...
"And liftoff, liftoff of STS-7 and America's
first woman astronaut."
Becoming the first American woman to travel
to space, as she and her four crewmates launched
from Kennedy Space Center aboard space shuttle
Challenger, on STS-7.
"The fact that I was going to be the first
American woman to go into space carried huge
expectations along with it.
I tried to block out pretty much everything
that was going on around me because it would
have been way too easy to just be lost in
the moment."
A long time advocate of education, Ride later
founded Sally Ride Science to educate, engage,
and inspire students in STEM education.
NASA recently honored Ride by creating a new
agency internship program in her name and
renaming the EarthKAM science instrument aboard
the International Space Station, the Sally
Ride EarthKAM.
Ride passed away in July 2012.
And that's This Week @NASA.
For more on these and other stories, or to
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media, log on to www.nasa.gov.
