Space Port Indiana Programs
Space Port Indiana News (National & State News Relative to Space Programs and Science)
Community Health Network, Indianapolis, Joins SPI's ISIS™ Project Indianapolis based Community Health Network, through their Community Benefit Fund, has joined Spaceport Indiana in the ISIS™ Project. ISIS™ Interactive Science Initiative to Support Indianapolis Public Schools, will bring STEM education and Project Based Learning to all 62 of IPS's schools over the next two academic years. Bryan Mills, President/CEO of Community Hospitals wanted the Network to be engaged in the ISIS project. Community Hospitals have been involved in many projects over the years that bring significant opportunities to the community it serves. "Bryan Mills and the Community Network are one of the successful stories in Indiana, and part of that success comes from their unwavering support of community projects, says Brian Tanner, President of Spaceport Indiana. Dr. White, Superintendent of IPS partnered early with SPI to bring the initative to the school system as part of a way to showcase the progressive steps that IPS takes to offer the best education for Hoosier students. Space Industry Unites in Criticism of ITAR Restrictions (Source: Flight Global)
Revving Up For The Next Space Race (Source: Daily Free Press) Is China’s plan for a space station an attempt to own the moon entirely? China has announced that they plan to establish a space station and travel to the moon by 2020, and the nation could be planning a “lunar land grab” over the next 15 years, according to a recent report in Discovery Magazine. Will China’s space endeavors incite the next space race? “China’s bid to become a power may lead to an arms race in space that could be very costly and dangerous for the world,” Boston University international relations professor William Keylor said in an e-mail interview. “A Chinese lunar base by 2020 would certainly give China an advantage at a time that the United States is reducing its spending on space projects.” BU astronomy professor Andrew West said China’s decision to travel to the moon may have more to do with the political implications of the endeavor than the resources available on the moon. “There’s probably not much that’s financially worth in terms of minerals on the moon. The cost to get to the moon is so great that nothing you bring back is worth it,” he said in an interview. “China has been very prosperous lately. Their plans could have great political ramifications.” NASA Planning to Send Astronauts to Mars (Source: KTRK) NASA on Wednesday laid out its long term plan to get astronauts to Mars. Scientists hope a launch this weekend will help them start to address the dozens of health hazards humans would face on a flight to the red planet. But we're still decades and many issues away from putting an astronaut on the surface of the red planet. The space agency wants to know if it can use the Martian environment to generate oxygen, fuel or water there during a human mission, allowing us to bring less.
But with current technology, it would take six months just to get astronauts there. That alone is a concern because of exposure to space radiation that can cause cancer. So NASA is trying to figure out how to both shield humans from that radiation and make the trip there and back faster. (11/24) Teachers & Students Will Now Have A Vehicle to Send Experiments to Near Space From the Classroom Spaceport Indiana™ will now offer Teachers and Students a chance to build experiments in the class room and then fly them on upcoming near space missions, saving money and providing remarkable experiences. SPI will schedule several high altitude launches throughout 2011/20012, including at least one launch per quarter. Teachers, who work with students in the class room and develop payloads with unique experiments, can schedule their project to fly along with payloads from other schools. These unique "Ride Share" opportunities give school the opportunity to conduct experiments without absorbing the entire cost of a launch. SPI will offer guidance on payload design, selection, and construction and help schedule the launch. Schools can host a launch if desired, but it is anticipated that most launches will take place at the SPI facility in Columbus. Through Distance Learning technology, classes can witness the launches and schools without payloads being launched can also watch and learn in real time. For more information, teachers can contact SPI at ContactUs@spaceportindiana.com or call 765 606 1512. NASA dishes out $270 million to speed U.S. return to orbit after space shuttle retirement The space shuttle program has just two launches remaining on the calendar, one April 29 and one in June. After that, no one knows what the next U.S.-based rocket to take astronauts to orbit will look like, when it will launch, or who will have built it. But all indications are that the rocket won't be NASA's—the space agency is hoping private firms will soon be capable of safely ferrying U.S. astronauts to and from orbit. Space Port Indiana™ selected as a NASA Top Star in Education for 2010 Arlington, Va.--A planetarium show, student-authored wiki pages and a card game are among the entries selected as Top Stars in the fourth and final round of a NASA-sponsored contest that invited U.S. formal and informal educators to submit their best examples of using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in science, technology, engineering or mathematics education. The Showcase section of the Top Stars Web site --
http://topstars.strategies.org -- includes downloadable materials from all Hubble activities selected as Top Stars.
The Top Stars contest is conducted by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in cooperation with the Space Telescope Science Institute. Submissions were accepted from individuals and from teams of up to four members, and included any combination of text, graphics, video and photos.
"The variety, creativity and high quality of these materials are excellent examples of how Hubble and its images have inspired the creation of effective and diverse education products for all grade levels," said Bonnie McClain, NASA Hubble education plan co-lead.
And the winners are... Keith Turner, a teacher at Carmel High School in Carmel, Ind., earned Top Stars honors with his final project for a grades 10-12 astronomy or Earth/space science course. The project challenges students to identify and explain stellar properties of a constellation and present their findings on a planetarium dome.
"Hubble has been a way for me to share the process of science with students, and how discovery generates new questions and unexpected results," said Turner, who was turned on to astronomy at a young age. "By the time I was 8, I had a small telescope I would look at the moon with. In sixth-grade I had a fabulous science teacher... who was passionate about astronomy. He took our class to the nearby... planetarium, and I was hooked."
One winning entry -- a planetarium show, created by informal educators AmyJo Proctor, Ron Proctor and Stacy Palen at Weber State University's Ott Planetarium in Ogden, Utah, and viewable online -- introduces the electromagnetic spectrum and multi-wavelength observation with images from Hubble and other space telescopes. Audiences learn how images are captured and what the colors tell us about the composition of deep-sky objects.
"Many planetarium show producers try to reproduce Great Observatory observations with 3D models instead of using the actual images -- these, while often lovely, fall flat because they are missing the scientific content and honesty that could be so inspiring to their audiences," the team wrote in its entry submission form. "We have developed techniques to give these 2D images a 3D feel, transforming the planetarium dome into a window on 3D space."
Another trio -- researchers Stephanie Slater, Timothy Slater and Daniel Lyons at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyo., who work to improve the quantity and quality of astronomy teaching -- were recognized as Top Stars for a series of research-based lessons that use the Hubble Deep Field image to engage and educate undergraduate students not majoring in science. As part of the lessons, students generate their own research questions and investigate the characteristics and distribution of galaxies.
The following is a complete list of round-four winners:
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