NASA’s Real-Life Martian Sfx
Posted on September 24th, 2015 by Mary Lord
If NASA loves the The Martian, it may be because the 21st Century Fox film starring Matt Damon draws on real-life technologies the U.S. space agency already has or is developing for a manned mission to Mars.
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Tags: 21st Century Fox, Aerospace, manned mission to Mars, Mars, Matt Damon, movie, NASA, NASA education, space exploration, STEM, STEM education, Technology, The Martian
In this NASA activity, students in grades 1-8 learn about the challenges of space nutrition and designing food packaging by observing, measuring, comparing, and contrasting the ripening of fruits and vegetables when exposed to air and the effect of chemical treatments to inhibit ripening.
The year is 2032 and your middle-school explorers have successfully achieved a manned mission to Mars! After establishing criteria to help look for signs of life, they conduct a scientific experiment in which they evaluate three “Martian” soil samples and determine if any contains life.
In this lesson to teach middle school students how a spacecraft gets from the surface of the Earth to Mars, students first investigate rockets and how they are able to get us into space, then discuss the nature of an orbit as well as how orbits enable us to get from planet to planet.
While solar-powered cars have yet to cruise much beyond design competitions, Swiss engineer André Borschberg swooped across the Pacific and into the record books when his solar-powered plane landed in Hawaii on July 3, 205 – five days after taking off from Japan.
Had the WNBA existed during her childhood, Aprille Ericsson jokes that she might have gravitated to pro basketball as a profession. Instead, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native became an aerospace engineer and NASA’s first African American Ph.D. rocket scientist. 
Camp SOAR is a five-day summer camp at Texas A&M University for rising high school juniors and seniors interested in aerospace engineering. The 2014 session runs from July 20-25. 
Want to help your STEM students beat the “summer slide?” NASA’s Summer of Innovation project offers summer day camps for middle school kids, teacher professional development opportunities, and minigrants of up to $2,500 for schools, youth organizations, or other partners to infuse STEM content into existing after-school or summer programs. The application deadline is June 10, 2013.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans have made notable contributions to engineering, science, education, and innovation. In honor of National LGBT History Month, the American Society for Engineering Education presents a diverse group of outstanding achievers.
