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By NASA
Learn Home Educator Night at the Museum… Heliophysics Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science 2 min read
Educator Night at the Museum of the North: Activating Science in Fairbanks Classrooms
The NASA Heliophysics Education Activation Team (NASA HEAT) set out to activate science in Fairbanks classrooms in early October at the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North annual Educators’ Night. This free Fall semester event introduces educators and school staff to a variety of resources and connections, connecting attendees with resources and university departments that will support their classroom efforts.
In 2024, over 100 guests received support from exhibitors on classroom topics. The museum put several dynamic activity kits on display – Cultural Connections Northern Lights, Energetic Aurora, and Sun Discovery – and helped participants explore and engage with them as supplementary materials for their classroom units and opportunities for hands-on exploration. The museum also promoted an upcoming Spring 2025 teacher workshop focused on the aurora.
The Geophysical Institute’s (GI) Education Outreach Office – another active element of the NASA HEAT team – hosted a table to display some of their co-produced resources, including the Cultural Connections Northern Lights (Kiġuyat) student guides, which blend Iñupiaq culture and aurora borealis science. After directing educators on how to locate physical and digital resources, the GI Education Outreach team encouraged their visitors to wrap the term “heliophysics” into their own vocabulary!
The University of Alaska Museum of the North’s Education & Public Programs team are an impactful part of NASA HEAT, which is part of NASA’s Science Activation portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn
https://www.uaf.edu/museum/education/educators/educators-night
Pulled from their kits and displayed for perusing, the Cultural Connections to Northern Lights kit is ready to be explored. UAF Geophysical Education Outreach staff Kaz Storm (left) and Mariah McNamara (right) introducing educators to curriculum materials co-produced with Alaska Native communities. Share
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Last Updated Oct 24, 2024 Editor NASA Science Editorial Team Related Terms
Grades 5 – 8 for Educators Grades 9-12 for Educators Grades K – 4 for Educators Heliophysics Opportunities For Educators to Get Involved Science Activation Explore More
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By NASA
Name: Christine Knudson
Title: Geologist
Formal Job Classification: Research Assistant
Organization: Planetary Environments Laboratory, Science Directorate (Code 699)
Christine Knudson is a geologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She began graduate school in August 2012, the same month that NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on Mars. “It is very exciting to be part of the rover team and to be involved in an active Mars mission,” she says. “On days when we’re downlinking science data and I’m on shift, I am one of the first people to see data from an experiment done on Mars!”Courtesy of Christine Knudsen What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard?
I am a geologist doing both laboratory and field work, primarily focusing on Mars analog research. I work on the Curiosity rover as part of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument team.
Why did you become a geologist?
As a child, I always loved being outside and I was really interested in all things related to the Earth. In college, I figured out that I wanted to be a geologist after taking an introduction to geology course. I wanted to learn more about the Earth and its interior, specifically volcanism.
What is your educational background?
In 2012, I received a B.S. in geology and environmental geoscience from Northern Illinois University. In August 2012, the same month that Curiosity landed on Mars, I started graduate school and in December 2014, I received a M.S. in geology from the same university. I focused on igneous geochemistry, investigating the pre-eruptive water contents of a Guatemalan volcano.
Why did you come to Goddard?
I came to Goddard in February 2015 to perform laboratory analyses of Mars analog materials, rock and mineral samples, from Earth, that the Curiosity rover and spectral orbiters have also identified on Mars. It is very exciting to be part of the rover team and to be involved in an active Mars mission.
What is a highlight of your work as a laboratory geologist doing Mars analog research?
Using laboratory analyses to interpret data we are getting back from Curiosity is incredibly exciting! I perform evolved gas analysis to replicate the analyses that the SAM instrument does on the rover. Curiosity scoops sand or drills into the rocks at stops along its drive through Gale Crater on Mars, then dumps the material into a small cup within the SAM instrument inside the rover. The rock is heated in a small oven to about 900 C [about 1650 F], and the instrument captures the gases that are released from the sample as it is heated. SAM uses a mass spectrometer to identify the different gases, and that tells us about the minerals that make up the rock.
We do the same analyses on rocks and minerals in our lab to compare to the SAM analyses. The other instruments on Curiosity also aid in the identification of the rocks, minerals, and elements present in this location on the Martian surface.
I also serve as a payload downlink lead for the SAM instrument. I check on the science and engineering data after we perform an experiment on Mars. On the days I’m on shift, I check to make sure that our science experiments finish without any problems, and that the instrument is “healthy,” so that the rover can continue driving and begin the science that is planned for the next sol.
On days when we’re downlinking science data and I’m on shift, I am one of the first people to see data from an experiment done on Mars!
What is some of the coolest field work you have done?
I have done Mars analog field work in New Mexico, Hawaii, and Iceland. The field work in Hawaii is exciting because one of our field sites was inside a lava tube on Mauna Loa. We expect that there are lava tubes on Mars, and we know that the interior of the tubes would likely be better shielded from solar radiation, which might allow for the preservation of organic markers. Scientifically, we’re interested in characterizing the rocks and minerals inside lava tubes to understand how the interior differs from the surface over time and to investigate differences in elemental availability as an accessible resource for potential life. Learning about these processes on Earth helps us understand what might be possible on Mars too.
“The field work in Hawaii is exciting because one of our field sites was inside a lava tube on Mauna Loa,” Knudson says. “We expect that there are lava tubes on Mars, and we know that the interior of the tubes would likely be better shielded from solar radiation, which might allow for the preservation of organic markers.”Courtesy of Christine Knudson I use handheld versions of laboratory instruments, some of which were miniaturized and made to fit on the Curiosity rover, to take in situ geochemical measurements — to learn what elements are present in the rocks and in what quantities. We also collect samples to analyze in the laboratory.
I also love Hawaii because the island is volcanically active. Hawaii Volcano National Park is incredible! A couple years ago, I was able to see the lava lake from an ongoing eruption within the crater of Kīlauea volcano. The best time to see the lava lake is at night because the glowing lava is visible from multiple park overlooks.
As a Mars geologist, what most fascinates you about the Curiosity rover?
When Curiosity landed, it was the largest rover NASA had ever sent to Mars: It’s about the size of a small SUV, so landing it safely was quite the feat! Curiosity also has some of the first science instruments ever made to operate on another planet, and we’ve learned SO much from those analyses.
Curiosity and the other rovers are sort of like robotic geologists exploring Mars. Working with the Curiosity rover allows scientists to do geology on Mars — from about 250 million miles away! Earth analogs help us to understand what we are seeing on Mars, since that “field site” is so incredibly far away and inaccessible to humans at this time.
What do you do for fun?
I spend most of my free time with my husband and two small children. We enjoy family hikes, gardening, and both my boys love being outside as much as I do.
I also enjoy yoga, and I crochet: I make hats, blankets, and I’m starting a sweater soon.
What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words.
Nature-lover. Mom. Geologist. Cat-enthusiast. Curious. Snack-fiend.
By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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Last Updated Oct 16, 2024 EditorRob GarnerContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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By European Space Agency
To achieve truly global connectivity, telecommunications satellites are essential. Through the Sunrise Partnership Project with Eutelsat OneWeb – part of Eutelsat Group – and support from the UK Space Agency, ESA is extending advanced 5G connectivity to areas beyond the reach of traditional ground networks.
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By NASA
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Via NASA Plane, Scientists Find New Gamma-ray Emission in Storm Clouds
Tropical thunderstorm with lightning, near the airport of Santa Marta, Colombia. Credit: Oscar van der Velde There’s more to thunderclouds than rain and lightning. Along with visible light emissions, thunderclouds can produce intense bursts of gamma rays, the most energetic form of light, that last for millionths of a second. The clouds can also glow steadily with gamma rays for seconds to minutes at a time.
Researchers using NASA airborne platforms have now found a new kind of gamma-ray emission that’s shorter in duration than the steady glows and longer than the microsecond bursts. They’re calling it a flickering gamma-ray flash. The discovery fills in a missing link in scientists’ understanding of thundercloud radiation and provides new insights into the mechanisms that produce lightning. The insights, in turn, could lead to more accurate lightning risk estimates for people, aircraft, and spacecraft.
Researchers from the University of Bergen in Norway led the study in collaboration with scientists from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and multiple universities in the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, and Europe. The findings were described in a pair of papers in Nature, published Oct. 2.
The international research team made their discovery while flying a battery of detectors aboard a NASA ER-2 research aircraft. In July 2023, the ER-2 set out on a series of 10 flights from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. The plane flew figure-eight flight patterns a few miles above tropical thunderclouds in the Caribbean and Central America, providing unprecedented views of cloud activity.
The scientific payload was developed for the Airborne Lightning Observatory for Fly’s Eye Geostationary Lightning Mapper Simulator and Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (ALOFT) campaign. Instrumentation in the payload included weather radars along with multiple sensors for measuring gamma rays, lightning flashes, and microwave emissions from clouds.
NASA’s high-flying ER-2 airplane carries instrumentation in this artist’s impression of the ALOFT mission to record gamma rays (colored purple for illustration) from thunderclouds.Credit: NASA/ALOFT team The researchers had hoped ALOFT instruments would observe fast radiation bursts known as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs). The flashes, first discovered in 1992 by NASA’s Compton Gamma Ray Observatory spacecraft, accompany some lightning strikes and last only millionths of a second. Despite their high intensity and their association with visible lightning, few TGFs have been spotted during previous aircraft-based studies.
“I went to a meeting just before the ALOFT campaign,” said principal investigator Nikolai Østgaard, a space physicist with the University of Bergen. “And they asked me: ‘How many TGFs are you going to see?’ I said: ‘Either we’ll see zero, or we’ll see a lot.’ And then we happened to see 130.”
However, the flickering gamma-ray flashes were a complete surprise.
“They’re almost impossible to detect from space,” said co-principal investigator Martino Marisaldi, who is also a University of Bergen space physicist. “But when you are flying at 20 kilometers [12.5 miles] high, you’re so close that you will see them.” The research team found more than 25 of these new flashes, each lasting between 50 to 200 milliseconds.
The abundance of fast bursts and the discovery of intermediate-duration flashes could be among the most important thundercloud discoveries in a decade or more, said University of New Hampshire physicist Joseph Dwyer, who was not involved in the research. “They’re telling us something about how thunderstorms work, which is really important because thunderstorms produce lightning that hurts and kills a lot of people.”
More broadly, Dwyer said he is excited about the prospects of advancing the field of meteorology. “I think everyone assumes that we figured out lightning a long time ago, but it’s an overlooked area … we don’t understand what’s going on inside those clouds right over our heads.” The discovery of flickering gamma-ray flashes may provide crucial clues scientists need to understand thundercloud dynamics, he said.
Turning to aircraft-based instrumentation rather than satellites ensured a lot of bang for research bucks, said the study’s project scientist, Timothy Lang of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
“If we had gotten one flash, we would have been ecstatic — and we got well over 100,” he said. This research could lead to a significant advance in our understanding of thunderstorms and radiation from thunderstorms. “It shows that if you have the right problem and you’re willing to take a little bit of risk, you can have a huge payoff.”
By James Riordon
NASA’s Earth Science News Team
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Last Updated Oct 02, 2024 EditorJenny MarderContactJames RiordonLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
Earth Gamma Rays Goddard Space Flight Center View the full article
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By European Space Agency
New research reveals that dust carried by the wind from southern Africa towards Madagascar triggered the largest phytoplankton bloom in two decades – and, unusually, this occurred at a time of year when such blooms are rarely seen.
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