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Be sure to scroll through to read the description for all 8 of the NASA sessions!
NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite has been measuring the amount of water in the soil globally every 3 days since April 2015, which helps scientists better predict floods, droughts and crop growth. Of utmost importance is to verify that the satellite's measurements are correct, which is done by comparing them to ground measurements of soil moisture. If both measurements match well, then SMAP scientists can have confidence that the measurements from the satellite are accurate. Citizen scientists like you can help validate SMAP's soil moisture data by collecting in situ soil moisture measurements.
In this session students will learn how to measure the amount of water in the soil. This activity will cover the basic steps on how to do the soil sample collections, measurements and calculations.
There are over 40,000 rocks from space that are found on Earth, but just a few of them were collected by astronauts. In 1969, the first humans landed on the Moon and brought back about 22 kg of lunar material. From these samples and the 358 kg brought back by five subsequent visits to the Moon, scientists learned (and are still learning) about the Moon’s formation, composition, and impact history. Some of these lunar samples, along with flags flown on the first crewed lunar landing mission (Apollo 11), were presented to 135 nations and United States’ possessions and states.
Michigan’s “goodwill” lunar samples, generously shared by the Michigan History Center, will be on display, along with other space rocks for limited sessions on Thursday and Friday.
On August 21, 2017, the Sun will be totally covered by the Moon for about 2 minutes.
In this session you will learn all about the upcoming Great American Solar Eclipse and the best way to view it. The path of totality is only a day’s drive from anywhere in the continental United States.
Did you know that the mosquito is the most deadly animal in the entire world? You have probably heard about many mosquito-borne illnesses that impact people around the world- but did you know that you can help us identify mosquito breeding habitats, identify mosquito larvae, and assist with eradicating potential mosquito breeding sites? And, you can participate in this citizen science effort through your smart phone or tablet!
In this session, you will get to see the brand new "hot off the press" GLOBE Observer mosquito app! You will find out how to identify mosquito breeding habitats and how to identify different mosquito larva. You will learn which types of mosquitoes are the most dangerous for spreading malaria, Zika, and dengue fever. By the end of this session, you will have downloaded the new app and will be ready to start your journey as a citizen scientist who is helping humanity deal with the world’s most dangerous animal!
Learn how to identify clouds and why they are so important. Through this NASA classroom activity, participants will learn all about clouds and will be using the NASA - GLOBE Program’s Cloud App for citizen science.
In this session, you will use the app and send real-time cloud observations from the palm of your hands. These cloud observations are important to understanding our Earth’s changing atmosphere. The cloud observations submitted through the app can complement the data from several NASA satellites. If the cloud app observations are taken when a satellite is traveling overhead, the app data can then be compared to the NASA satellite data and used, by NASA scientists, as data points for satellite data validation.
On some days, we can walk outside and only feel the gentlest of breezes, while on the very next day we have to hang on to our hats to keep them from blowing away. What causes the strength (or speed) of winds to be so different on back-to-back days? Could these causes have something to do with why hurricane winds are so strong? You bet!
In this session, we will learn the answers to the following questions:
Come ready to analyze weather maps, see cool instruments and learn how NASA’s CYGNSS mission will allow weather forecasters to learn more about hurricane winds and how to improve the prediction of their intensification and impacts.
The ICESat-2 satellite will precisely record the time-of-flight of individual photons as they travel from the satellite instrument, reflect off Earth’s surface, and return to the instrument’s detector. These measurements allow scientists to calculate Earth’s surface elevation. By doing this, they are able to measure the height of everything on our planet, including sea ice, ice sheets, landforms, forest and tree canopies, ocean surfaces and clouds. Each surface reflects photons differently, depending upon its color, size, and shape.
In this session, students will act as the ICESat-2 satellite and drop ten green bouncy balls, at once, and try to catch as many as they can.
Staff from NASA’s AREN Project will demonstrate how kites can be used to study the atmosphere using airborne sensors.
In this session, you will then take command of a kite to experience and then you will have the opportunity to actually “fly kites!!”
This activity is only presented on Thursday, May 25, 2017.