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Cratering the
Moon ChallengeWelcome to the Spring 2008 NASA Quest Challenge!
Help scientists at NASA find water on the lunar poles.
Archive of
Webcast, Wednesday,
March
5, 2008
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Just like on Earth, water is a crucial resource
on the Moon. It will not be practical to transport to space the
amount of water needed for human consumption and exploration.
It is critical to find natural resources, such as water, on the
Moon. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)
mission will begin the search for water, leveraging the information
we learned from the Clementine and Lunar
Prospector missions.
By going to the Moon for extended periods
of time before other bodies in our solar system, astronauts
will search for resources and learn how to work safely in a
harsh environment—stepping
stones to future exploration. The Moon also offers many clues
about the time when the planets were formed. |
Scientists at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain
View, California are developing a spacecraft they’ll deliberately
crash into the Moon as part of an attempt to find water. A second craft
will fly through the lunar dust plume released from the crash and send
data back to Earth for analysis. NASA plans to return astronauts to
the Moon by 2018 as a stepping stone on the way to Mars. Because it’s
very expensive to launch materials into space (as much as $15,000 per
pound to the Moon), it would be a great advantage to astronauts to have
a water supply already in place on the Moon. Two previous lunar missions
-- Clementine in 1994 and Lunar Prospector in 1998 -- found indirect
but not conclusive evidence of water. Your challenge will be to design
a lunar impact simulator and determine the optimal impact angle to give
us the most information from the crash.
See the calendar below for
planning purposes. Prepare for the Challenge with some background
references to learn about some of the missions that have gone before.
A Educators' Guide is available in MS
Word and .pdf formats. To
browse additional information about this mission and read news as it
breaks, visit the main LCROSS site, http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov
February
2008 |
Registration
begins!
After you have registered for the HiRISE Image Targeting Challenge
you will be receive an email giving you information on how to access
the pre-challenge survey for you students. The pre-survey and post-survey
help us to evaluate the impact of our challenges. We will also be requesting
teacher evaluations at the end of the challenge.
Note: If you have registered before February
12, and have not received an email welcoming you to the event,
it could be that you entered your email incorrectly on the registration.
Please send an email to Linda so
that we may correct our records. |
| Now!
| Begin preparation, understanding:
- What the LCROSS mission is all about.
- Why we are re-visiting this type of impact
on the moon.
- What variables will determine the
best, most controlable impactor?
- What angle and other conditions would
create the most usable scientific data
(Educator
Guides are available online
in MS Word and .pdf format
when you have completed the pre-challenge survey.)
See also links to
other online resources for research purposes. |
Archive
of
March
5, 2008
Webcast 
| See the archive
of the Opening Webcast.
Meet team members Tony
Colaprete and Jennifer
Heldmann and find out about the LCROSS project
and how to begin your participation. Room is now open so that
you may test your ability to receive the video and send any questions
to Linda.B.Conrad@nasa.gov
Begin your designs. |
Meet
the Team
| Meet
the team through their online bios. |
March
31
| Preliminary
designs were posted as received
Experts
evaluated and offer suggestions to designs that are received
by deadline.
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May
5 |
Final design
submissions due!
For help on how to send your preliminary designs, see Sending
Materials for the Website
Final designs will be posted as received
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May 9
Final Webcast:
@ 10:30 a.m. PDT
(1:30 p.m. EDT,
1730 GMT)
Live Webcast!
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Join us in this live webcast featuring expert
comments on student designs. If you cannot make the hour of
the webcast, place your questions in the chat room early. We
will archive the webcast as soon as possible after the webcast.
Link will be posted on May 2 -- Hope to see
you on the 9th!!
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May
2008
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Post-Challenge Student Survey
Teacher Reaction Survey |
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