Genesis Mission Outreach E-News, 34th Edition September 2002
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION
On September 24, in ceremonies on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory campus, the Genesis mission was awarded a NASA Group Achievement Award “For the outstanding contribution to successful development, test, and launch of the Genesis spacecraft and the implementation of an outstanding mission operations system.” Lockheed Martin Astronautics and Boeing were each awarded a NASA Public Service Award for Genesis development and launch.
http://www.genesismission.org/mission/pressroom/awards.html
JPL Release: Genesis Mission Status
September 25, 2002
Genesis is operating in good health. The flight team and spacecraft completed a sixth stationkeeping maneuver without a hitch on Sept. 25. The maneuver adjusted the orbit Genesis is traveling around the L1 point. It accelerated the spacecraft by about 1.45 meters per second (4.76 feet per second) in a direction about 22 degrees off a line toward the Sun. Initial results from the navigation team indicate that the execution was within about 1 percent of design.
Science activities are back up and running after a brief pause for the stationkeeping maneuver.
Ten good star-tracker images were downloaded following the maneuver.
The Genesis team received a NASA Group Achievement Award on Sept. 24 for “outstanding contribution to successful development, test, and launch of the Genesis spacecraft and the implementation of an outstanding mission operations system.” Lockheed Martin Astronautics and Boeing were each awarded a NASA Public Service Award for Genesis development and launch.
Where is the Genesis Spacecraft Now?
View the position of the Genesis spacecraft. Most images are updated every 10 minutes. http://www.genesismission.org/mission/live_shots.html
Further Reading on Genesis and the Solar Wind
Members of the Genesis mission science community have written a number of science articles based on the mission and the science and technical rationale for sample collection. At Los Alamos National Laboratory, Genesis Co-Investigator Roger Wiens noted, “The solar system was created four and a half billion years ago from a cloud of gas and dust. We know the dates of this from asteroids, pieces of which we have in the form of meteorites, and from moon rocks and our own Earth. We don’t know the details of how the solar system was formed. Genesis is one of the few [NASA] missions that addresses that issue, only the other ones are astrophysics missions. The most familiar one is the Hubble Telescope. It shows us other star systems in the process of formation. To be specific, the sun contains more than 99% of the solar system material. Genesis should tell us something about the average composition of our solar system so we can compare the solar system composition with individual planets.”
You can read about the science of the mission, its instrumentation, collector materials, and more by visiting the publications page on the Los Alamos National Laboratory Genesis site at: http://genesis.lanl.gov/publications.html
A “Back to School” Apple for the Teacher
Do your students look forward to learning about space science, astronomy, or a NASA mission? The Genesis mission has a wealth of standards-aligned classroom materials online. With four high school modules that make up the Cosmic Chemistry series, and seven middle school modules that range from the periodic table to the launch and propulsion of a rocket, this is a good time to visit the Genesis education modules page. http://www.genesismission.org/educate/scimodule/moduleoverview.html
All modules are in portable document format (pdf) and are print optimized for good quality classroom copies. There are elementary classroom activities included in the Genesis Kids section at: http://www.genesismission.org/product/genesis_kids/p_t.html
Make a difference; become a McREL Development Network Associate. For information on field testing, go to: http://www.mcrel.org/epo/dev_field.asp Interested educators should contact John Ristvey at 303-632-5620 or at jristvey@mcrel.org
RURAL EDUCATORS, TAKE NOTICE!
We know that a number of teachers who use Genesis materials in the classroom come to us from rural regions of the country. Here’s a professional development opportunity for rural educators, and you don’t have to leave your classroom or office. On Tuesday, October 1, 9:00-10:30 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time and Thursday, October 3, 1:00-2:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time, you can attend the online Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) 2002 Diversity Roundtable. This year’s Roundtable is targeted to a rural audience, and will occur in two sessions: 1) On October 1, Delia Pompa, executive director of the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), and past director of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs will attend and talk about students who are culturally and linguistically diverse. 2) On October 3, Carol Tomlinson, professor of Educational Leadership, Foundations and Policy at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education, will attend and speak on differentiated instruction for students with special needs.
The Roundtables are a “teleconference and online dialogue” format. Each session will be moderated, and the experts will begin with a brief presentation, followed by a question/answer session. You are encouraged to submit questions online to Delia and Carol prior to and/or during these events. There is no cost to participate in the Roundtables. All that you need is a telephone and an Internet connection. For online registration and more information, go to:
KSC’S ONLINE MULTIMEDIA GALLERY
Have you visited Kennedy Space Center’s online Multimedia Gallery
