Announcing the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Fourth Flight Opportunity - SSEP Mission 2 to the International Space Station (ISS) The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (http://ncesse.org), in partnership with NanoRacks (http://nanoracks.com) invites communities across the U.S. to participate in SSEP Mission 2 to ISS. Each participating community will be provided all launch services to fly a real microgravity research mini-laboratory on ISS from September 28 to November 12, 2012, and a kit for assembly of their mini-lab. An 8-week experiment design competition in the community, held Spring 2012, will allow grade 5-12 student teams to design real microgravity experiments vying for their community's reserved mini-lab slot on ISS.

 

SSEP immerses a community of students in real scientific research of their own design (grade level appropriate), using a highly captivating spaceflight opportunity on ISS - America's newest National Laboratory – which will garner the community significant media attention.

 

SSEP is a true STEM education program. It addresses a wide range of biological and physical science disciplines (thus appropriate for all teachers of science), including: seed germination, crystal growth, physiology of microorganisms and life cycles (e.g. bacteria), cell biology and growth, food studies, and studies of micro-aquatic life. Students design experiments to the technology and engineering constraints imposed by a real research mini-lab and flight operations to and from Earth orbit.

 

HERITAGE: Through the first two SSEP announcements of opportunity on the final flights of Space Shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis (STS-134 and STS-135), 27 communities joined the program, providing a combined 30,700 grade 5-14 students in 101 schools the opportunity to design and propose real spaceflight experiments; 1,027 student team proposals were received; and 27 experiments were selected and flown on the Shuttles - one for each participating community.

 

For SSEP Mission 1 to ISS, the third flight opportunity, 12 communities are providing 41,200 students, across 92 schools, the opportunity to design and propose experiments. Mission 1 is currently ongoing.

 

SOME SSEP BASICS:

1. Typically a minimum of 300 grade 5-12 students across a community engage in experiment design. The school district is free to determine the participating grade levels. SSEP is not designed for a single class or a small number of students.

2. Implementation is straightforward and well defined; all needed curricular materials are fully developed; and we provide ongoing, proactive support for your educator implementation team.

3. Well designed content resources for teachers and students support foundational instruction on science in microgravity and experimental design.

4. SSEP is flexible enough to be tailored to your community's strategic needs in STEM education.

5. A suite of SSEP program elements - the Community Program - leverages the flight experiment design competition to engage the entire community, embracing a Learning Community Model for STEM education. Elements include flying up to 2 Mission Patches resulting from an art and design competition across your community, and a SSEP Community Blog for each community.

6. Students can take part in their own research conference where they can report on experiment design and results. The conference is held in Washington, DC, in early July, and likely at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, the site of the 2011 conference.

 

SSEP is about a commitment: to the joys of learning; to student ownership in exploration through immersive and REAL science experiences; to science as journey; to rich experiences for teachers in real science; and to science as an interdisciplinary tapestry that extends to vital written and oral communication skills.

 

CRITICAL DEADLINE: all participating communities must be aboard by February 27, 2012, and to do that we need to start working with interested communities right away.

 

NEXT STEPS - WE ARE ON A FAST TRACK:

1. CAREFULLY review the National Announcement of Opportunity (link below), which includes links to all aspects of the program.

2. Contact us at ssep@ncesse.org or call at: 301-395-0770

 

GO TO NATIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY: http://ssep.ncesse.org/?p=7954

 

LOP@mail.nasa.gov or by telephone to 757-864-3761.

This is the beginning of a new era in space exploration where NASA will build the capabilities to send humans deeper into space than ever before. NASA will use the International Space Station as a test bed and stepping stone for the challenging journey ahead. Plans are underway to foster a commercial industry that will safely service low Earth orbit so NASA can focus their energy and resources on sending astronauts to an asteroid and eventually to Mars. The road ahead is challenging but this approach and space exploration architecture puts us in a position to go where no human has gone before.

 

Dates are June 24 – 29, 2012

 

For more information about LiftOff 2012, eligibility and costs, visit http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/liftoff

NASA has released an interactive, educational video game called NetworKing that depicts how the Space Communication and Navigation, or SCaN, network operates. The release of the video game coincided with the close of World Space Week, Oct. 4-10, 2011.

Developed by the Information Technology Office at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., NetworKing gives players an insider's perspective into how astronauts, mission controllers and scientists communicate during space missions.

 

To successfully construct fast and efficient communication networks, players first must establish command stations around the world and accept clients conducting space missions, such as satellites and space telescopes. Resources are earned throughout the game as players continue to acquire more clients. Players can use accumulated resources strategically to enhance and increase their networks' capabilities.

 

Players with the most integrated communications networks will have the ability to acquire more complex clients, such as the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and the Kepler mission.

 

NetworKing is available to the public for play on the NASA 3D Resources website. Players can access the game using an Internet browser. It can be downloaded and run on both a PC and Macintosh operating system. To play the NetworKing game, visit http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/3d_resources/scan.html

 

In conjunction with NetworKing, the 3D Resources website also links visitors to the Station Spacewalk Interactive Game and the SCaN Interactive Demo that demonstrates the interaction between SCaN's ground-and-space facilities and NASA spacecraft.

Declared by the United Nations General Assembly, World Space Week is an annual international celebration of science and technology commemorating the launch of Sputnik 1, the first human-made Earth satellite, and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty.

 

The theme for World Space Week 2011 was "50 Years of Human Spaceflight."

 

For more information about SCaN, visit https://www.spacecomm.nasa.gov/spacecomm/default.cfm

 

For more information about NASA's education programs, visit http://www.nasa.gov/education.

Afterschool Universe is a hands-on astronomy curriculum targeted at middle school out-of-school-time settings. Developed in 2006 and rigorously pilot-tested and evaluated, the 12-session program explores basic astronomy concepts through engaging hands-on activities and takes participants on a journey through the universe beyond the solar system.

 

To learn more about the program, visit http://universe.nasa.gov/afterschool/

 

The Afterschool Universe team has released a new series of activity videos to be used as supplements to the program's manual and training workshops.

 

To view the videos, visit the Afterschool Universe YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/AfterschoolUniverse

 

Questions about this program should be directed to http://universe.nasa.gov/au/webcont.html