This is an activity about how much atmospheric pressure is needed on Mars to maintain surface water and why it does not have surface water today. Learners will use a computer interactive to learn about Mars past and present before exploring the... (View More) pressure and greenhouse strength needed for Mars to have a watery surface as it had in the past. This lesson is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering education program focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System. (View Less)

This is an activity about the way distance, albedo, and atmosphere affect the temperature of a planet. Learners will create a planet using a computer game and change features of the planet to increase or decrease the planet's temperature. They will... (View More) then discuss their results in terms of greenhouse strength and the presence of liquid water. This lesson is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering education program focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System. (View Less)

This is a lesson that applys occultations to Saturn's Moon Enceladus. Learners will establish whether Saturn’s small moon, Enceladus, has an atmosphere, whether that atmosphere is over the entire planet, and what creates Saturn’s E-ring. The... (View More) activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System. (View Less)

This is a lesson about detecting atmospheres of planets. Learners will explore stellar occultation events (by interpreting light curves) to determine if an imaginary dwarf planet “Snorkzat” has an atmosphere. The activity is part of Project... (View More) Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System. (View Less)

This is a lesson about elemental spectra. Learners will compare known elemental spectra with spectra of Titan and Saturn’s rings from a spectrometer aboard the NASA Cassini spacecraft. They identify the elements visible in the planetary and lunar... (View More) spectra. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System. (View Less)

This is a DVD about asteroids and impacts in the solar system. Learners can watch a 7-minute video of the "lifetime" of a meteor. The narrated, subtitled program includes images of impact craters on planets and asteroids, visualizations of the... (View More) Asteroid Belt, animations of collisions between asteroids, an explanation of how collisions between asteroids can create fragments that reach Earth as a meteorite, visualizations of resonances in the asteroid belt, the perturbation of an asteroid fragment toward Earth, an explanation of how meteors that impact Earth might have obtained high and low impact velocities, and visualizations of the range of outcomes from impacts by meteors with different velocities and sizes. The goal is to provide engaging and scientifically accurate animations and images of impact processes in the solar system. The program is specifically designed to dispel commonly-held misconceptions and improve general understanding of solar system science among student's grades 5-12, as well as a broad lay audience. In addition to the 7-minute stand-alone video, the DVD also contains two interactives for Windows® and Macintosh® computers. The first interactive is a version of the above program that allows students and other users to view segments in any order through answering some of the most-commonly asked questions about asteroid impacts. The second interactive, "Make a Collision," allows users to simulate asteroid collisions, by selecting the parameters of collisions between asteroids and then seeing the results. The third interactive, "ImpactChallenge," provides additional experience with simulations Asteroid Belt impacts by giving users additional parameters that can be adjusted to make a wider variety of asteroid collisions. (View Less)

This is a lesson about the role of computers in space exploration. Learners will investigate various ways to improve mission design to maximize the scientific return. In the first activity, the students examine how the use of flowcharts can help... (View More) make computer programs error-free and efficient, in this way making the spacecraft more reliable. In the second activity, the students investigate how data can be compressed for transmission over limited bandwidth. By the end of the lesson, the students come to realize that the wealth of data gathered by spacecraft is useless if it cannot be transmitted safely and efficiently to the scientists on the Earth. (View Less)

This is a lesson about how spacecraft use gravity assists to get where they are going. Learners will explore how engineers minimize the use of fuel by utilizing gravity. In Activity 1, students explore the physical conservation laws by observing the... (View More) behavior of balls colliding with other objects. In Activity 2, the students use an interactive online simulation tool to explore the various ways in which gravity assists can be used to aid space exploration. (View Less)

This is an online interactive about asteroid composition. Learners will explore how scientists learn about the composition of an asteroid by studying energy and neutrons that emanate from it. Includes audio (and transcription) explaining the diagram.