INSPIRE

OK, I know I said the next post would be about a Prospective Moon Base. I lied. :) Before I post about that, I wanted to say something about the most wonderful STEM opportunity for high schoolers in the U.S.

NASA's INSPIRE Program (Interdisciplinary National Science Program Incorporating Research and Education) is an opportunity for high schoolers to participate in an Online Learning Community (OLC)dedicated to promoting interest in NASA and NASA opportunities and ultimately a career in NASA or another STEM related field. There are Live Chats with NASA Scientists and Engineers, activities every week that teach us about the theme of the week. Time spent participating is entirely up to you, you can do as much or as little as your schedule allows. It is recommended that you go onto the OLC at least 1-3 times a week to stay on top of things. There are summer programs, rising 10th graders go to their nearest NASA center for a few days with a parent/guardian and tour the center, rising 11th graders fly to a college or university for two weeks to study STEM subjects, and rising 12th graders/College Freshmen are hired as summer interns at their nearest NASA center. The whole program is just absolutely wonderful, I've really enjoyed this past year in it and a looking forward to the next. Applications are now open, I have included a link to the application page. Also included is the article on nasa.gov about INSPIRE. I certainly hope some of you will consider applying! :D For more info contact:
nasainspire@okstate.edu
Steven.H.Chance@nasa.gov 

INSPIRE Brochure

INSPIRE Application Site

The Interdisciplinary National Science Project Incorporating Research and Education Experience, or INSPIRE, is a multitier year-round program designed for students in ninth to 12th grade who are interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education and careers.

Through the INSPIRE Online Learning Community, or OLC, the centerpiece of the INSPIRE Project, students from across the nation have the opportunity to interact with their peers, NASA experts, and education specialists twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Members of the OLC Discover new knowledge while exploring their interests through unique activities and challenges; Connect with subject matters experts through weekly chats and blogs, as well as their peers on an exclusive discussion board; and Equip themselves through access to resources designed to help students prepare for their future as well as information about other NASA competitions/opportunities. Even parents/guardians have a unique opportunity when their student is accepted into the INSPIRE project by providing them with resources designed to help champion their child’s education and career goals.

To ensure all students have an opportunity to participate in the OLC, those who qualify for the National School Lunch Program are eligible to receive a free laptop.

To be considered for the INSPIRE Online Learning Community, applicants must:

• Be entering the ninth through 12th grade when the school year begins.
• Be at least 13 years of age or older at the time of application.
• Be a U.S. citizen.
• Have a minimum of a 2.5 academic grade point average on an unweighted 4.0 scale.
• Demonstrate the desire and the academic preparation to pursue a STEM-related field of study beyond high school.
• Complete the online application process with all required documentation.

Members in good standing with the INSPIRE OLC have the opportunity to compete for grade-appropriate summer STEM experiences. The summer STEM experience is designed to provide hands-on opportunities to investigate education and careers in STEM at a NASA facility or a Space Grant Institution/University. Each summer experience, except the Collegiate Experience, will take place at the NASA facility within the student's service area. To locate the NASA facility in your service area, please see the "NASA Facilities and Service Area" section below.

Explorer Experience: INSPIRE OLC participants in the ninth grade may compete for The Explorer Summer Experience. Selected applicants and their parents/guardians receive a trip to the NASA facility within their service areas, where they will participate in a VIP tour and workshop. The visit occurs the summer between the students' ninth- and 10th-grade school year.

Collegiate Experience: INSPIRE OLC participants in the 10th grade may compete for The Collegiate Summer Experience. Students selected participate in a two-week on-campus experience at a Space Grant Institution/University. Students are chaperoned by the host institution where their exposure to college life is designed to improve study skills and encourage the pursuit of higher education and careers in STEM areas. NASA INSPIRE will pay round-trip travel expenses for those students who live more than 100 miles from the college or university providing this experience. In addition, the college or university provides lodging, meals, supervision and educational activities. The Collegiate Experience occurs the summer between the students' 10th- and 11th-grade school year.

Residential Internship: INSPIRE OLC participants in the 11th grade may compete for the Residential Internship Summer Experience. Selected students participate in a paid, eight-week internship under a NASA mentor at the NASA facility within the students' service areas. During the internship, students are provided:

• A stipend based on minimum wage for the state in which the NASA facility is located and a lunch allowance.
• Meals and housing at a location within commuting distance from the NASA facility, typically a nearby college dormitory.
• Daily transportation to and from work and required project activities.
• Supervision and mentoring by scientists and engineers at the NASA center during working hours.
• Interaction with qualified, experienced and highly motivated professional educators who provide supervision and implement the enrichment activities and cultural activities during non work hours.

Pre-College Internship: INSPIRE OLC participants in the 12th grade who have been accepted to attend a college or university to pursue a STEM degree may compete for the Pre-College Internship Summer Experience. Selected applicants participate in a paid, eight-week internship with a NASA mentor at the NASA facility within their service areas. During this internship, the student receives a stipend and is then responsible for making all lodging, meals and transportation arrangements.

To be considered for a summer STEM experience, INSPIRE Online Learning Community participants must at a minimum:

• Be an active participant in the INSPIRE Online Learning Community.
• Have a 3.0 academic grade point average on an unweighted 4.0 scale.
• Submit updated transcripts, recommendations and parental consent forms, and other documentation as instructed.
• Students must be at least 16 years of age to participate in the Residential Internship or the Pre College Internship.

Note: Depending on funding availability, the number of laptops to be awarded may be limited and not all summer experiences may be offered every year.

Applications for the 2011 – 2012 OLC will be accepted until June 30, 2011. Students are highly encouraged to submit their application as soon as possible. To receive periodic notices about INSPIRE and application notices, we encourage students and parents to register at the following website:
>  https://inspire.okstate.edu/index.cfm?liftoff=login.LoginForm  →.

NASA FACILITIES AND SERVICE AREA

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NASA Facility: Ames Research Center
Location: Moffett Field, California
Area of Service: Alaska, Northern California (southernmost counties of Inyo, Kings, Monterey, Tulare), Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

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NASA Facility: Dryden Research Center
Location: Edwards Air Force Base, California
Area of Service: Arizona, Southern California (northernmost counties of Kern, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo)

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NASA Facility: Glenn Research Center
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Area of Service: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin

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NASA Facility: Goddard Space Flight Center
Location: Greenbelt, Maryland
Area of Service: Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont

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NASA Facility: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Location: Pasadena, California
Area of Service: TBD

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NASA Facility: Johnson Space Center
Location: Houston, Texas
Area of Service: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas

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NASA Facility: Kennedy Space Center
Location: Merritt Island, Florida
Area of Service: Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands

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NASA Facility: Langley Research Center
Location: Hampton, Virginia
Area of Service: Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia

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NASA Facility: Marshall Space Flight Center
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Area of Service: Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, Louisiana

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NASA Facility: Stennis Space Center
Location: near Biloxi, Mississippi
Area of Service: Mississippi, Louisiana

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INSPIRE Brochure
INSPIRE Brochure

NASA Contact
Steve Chance
INSPIRE Project Manager
Mail Code: XA-D/John F. Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899
E-mail: Steven.H.Chance@nasa.gov

ISS (International Space Station)

Geez it's been a while. Next was the ISS, or International Space Station. 


The International Space Station is part of the stepping stone to Mars. As you may recall from the Space Shuttle, the original plan to Mars was first a way to get into space relatively cheaply and efficiently, followed by an orbital base, followed by a moon base, followed by Mars. To build this orbiting base, the U.S. turned to international partners, Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada, in completing the construction of the base. 





The International Space Station marks its 10th anniversary of continuous human occupation on Nov. 2, 2010. Since Expedition 1, which launched Oct. 31, 2000, and docked Nov. 2, the space station has been visited by 196 individuals from eight different countries.

At the time of the anniversary, the station’s odometer will read more than 1.5 billion statute miles (the equivalent of eight round trips to the Sun), over the course of 57,361 orbits around the Earth. Since the first module, Zarya, launched at 1:40 a.m. EST on Nov. 20, 1998, it has made a total of 68,519 orbits of our home planet, or about 1.7 billion miles on its odometer.

As of the Nov. 2 anniversary date there have been 103 launches to the space station: 67 Russian vehicles, 34 space shuttles, one European and one Japanese vehicle. A total of 150 spacewalks have been conducted in support of space station assembly totaling more than 944 hours.

The space station, including its large solar arrays, spans the area of a U.S. football field, including the end zones, and weighs 827,794 pounds. The complex now has more livable room than a conventional five-bedroom house, and has two bathrooms and a gymnasium. 







Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the ISS is as much a human achievement as it is a technological one—how best to plan, coordinate, and monitor the varied activities of the Program’s many organizations.

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the ISS. The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

The International Space Station Program brings together international flight crews, multiple launch vehicles, globally distributed launch, operations, training, engineering, and development facilities; communications networks, and the international scientific research community.

Elements launched from different countries and continents are not mated together until they reach orbit, and some elements that have been launched later in the assembly sequence were not yet built when the first elements were placed in orbit.

Operating the space station is even more complicated than other space flight endeavors because it is an international program. Each partner has the primary responsibility to manage and run the hardware it provides.

Construction, assembly and operation of the International Space Station requires the support of facilities on the Earth managed by all of the international partner agencies and countries involved in the program.

These include construction facilities, launch support and processing facilities, mission operations support facilities, research and technology development facilities and communications facilities. 





At any given time on board the space station, a large array of different experiments are underway within a wide range of disciplines. These experiments are selected by each space station partner to meet the goals of each respective agency. Some basic examples of these are:

Biology and Biotechnology

In microgravity, controls on the directionality and geometry of cell and tissue growth can be dramatically different to those on Earth. Various experiments have used the culture of cells, tissues and small organisms on orbit as a tool to increase our understanding of biological processes in microgravity.

Earth and Space Science

The presence of the space station in low-Earth orbit provides a unique vantage point for collecting Earth and space science data. From an average altitude of about 400 km, details in such features as glaciers, agricultural fields, cities, and coral reefs taken from the ISS can be layered with other sources of data, such as orbiting satellites, to compile the most comprehensive information available.

Educational Activities

The space station provides a unique platform for inspiring students to excel in mathematics and science. Station educational activities have had a positive impact on thousands of students by involving them in station research, and by using the station to teach them the science and engineering that are behind space exploration.

Human Research

The space station is being used to study the risks to human health that are inherent in space exploration. Focal research questions address the mechanisms of the risks and develop test countermeasures to reduce these risks. Research on space station addresses the major risks to human health from residence in a long-duration microgravity environment. Results from this research are key enablers for future long-duration missions beyond low Earth orbit.

Physical Sciences

The space station provides the only place to study long-term physical effects in the absence of gravity. This unique microgravity environment allows different physical properties to dominate systems, and these have been harnessed for a wide variety of physical sciences.

Technology

Studies on the space station can test a variety of technologies, systems, and materials that will be needed for future long-duration exploration missions.


The ISS is one of the greatest accomplishements of humanity and will continue to serve us for at least another decade. 





Next Focus: Prospective Moon Base


Credits: NASA Missions website: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Bing Photos