Jul 14 2011
From The Space Library
RELEASE: 11-227 NASA INTERNSHIP EXPOSES TEACHERS TO AEROSPACE ENGINEERING HAMPTON, Va. --
An innovative summer internship program will give 42 U.S. middle and high school teachers a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience with NASA's latest aerospace engineering technologies while working closely with agency technical mentors. From July 18-29, those selected for the Simulation-Based Aerospace Engineering Teacher Professional Development program will learn about virtual technology so they can get their students excited about real-world science, technology, engineering and mathematics applications. NASA's Office of Education and Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate sponsor the program. Simulation-based aerospace engineering relies on computer models and simulations of aerospace structures, materials, atmospheric flight conditions and system operations to design improvements for the next generation of flight vehicles and systems. "The greatest engineering accomplishments today are made possible because of modeling and simulation," said Behzad Raiszadeh, technical manager for the modeling and simulation initiative at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. "These highly qualified educators will see first hand how simulation is used to solve some of the most challenging NASA problems using the basic math and physics principles they teach in school." Four NASA centers are participating in the program this year. Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.; Kennedy Space Center in Florida; and Langley are hosting workshops. Johnson Space Center in Houston is supporting a workshop for the Hispanic community in Kingsville, Texas. The centers employ extensive modeling and simulation tools in their research and technology development work. During the program, teachers will work alongside NASA mentors in various agency laboratories and have the opportunity to tour NASA facilities. They also will participate in NASA's Digital Learning Network, learn about other agency educational resources, hear speakers, and develop lesson plans incorporating modeling and simulation concepts. Participating teachers are from nine states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, and Texas. Half of the teachers represent schools with a minority population exceeding 50 percent. After their internships, the teachers will implement the new lesson plans and share them with other teachers in their school districts. The ultimate goal of the program is to get students interested in aerospace engineering and computer simulation early in their education. The teachers were required to obtain sponsorships from industry and academia. Forty sponsors have committed post-workshop support to the teachers, including mentoring, classroom site visits, field trips, equipment loans, forums for future workshops and speakers, and financial donations.
RELEASE: 11-228 NASA SPACECRAFT TO ENTER LARGE ASTEROID'S ORBIT ON JULY 15 PASADENA, Calif. --
On July 15, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will begin a prolonged encounter with the asteroid Vesta, making the mission the first to enter orbit around a main-belt asteroid. The main asteroid belt lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Dawn will study Vesta for one year, and observations will help scientists understand the earliest chapter of our solar system's history. As the spacecraft approaches Vesta, surface details are coming into focus, as seen in a recent image taken from a distance of about 26,000 miles (41,000 kilometers). Engineers expect the spacecraft to be captured into orbit at approximately 10 p.m. PDT Friday, July 15. They expect to hear from the spacecraft and confirm that it performed as planned during a scheduled communications pass that starts at approximately 11:30 p.m. PDT on Saturday, July 16. When Vesta captures Dawn into its orbit, engineers estimate there will be approximately 9,900 miles (16,000 kilometers) between them. At that point, the spacecraft and asteroid will be approximately 117 million miles (188 million kilometers) from Earth. "It has taken nearly four years to get to this point," said Robert Mase, Dawn project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Our latest tests and check-outs show that Dawn is right on target and performing normally." Engineers have been subtly shaping Dawn's trajectory for years to match Vesta's orbit around the sun. Unlike other missions, where dramatic propulsive burns put spacecraft into orbit around a planet, Dawn will ease up next to Vesta. Then the asteroid's gravity will capture the spacecraft into orbit. However, until Dawn nears Vesta and makes accurate measurements, the asteroid's mass and gravity will only be estimates. The Dawn team will refine the exact moment of orbit capture over the next few days. Launched in September 2007, Dawn will depart for its second destination, the dwarf planet Ceres, in July 2012. The spacecraft will be the first to orbit two bodies in our solar system. Dawn's mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Dawn is a project of the directorate's Discovery Program, which is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. UCLA is responsible for overall Dawn mission science. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., designed and built the spacecraft. The German Aerospace Center, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Astrophysical Institute are part of the mission team.
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