NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

LCROSS: Exploration Through Navigation Challenge

NASA Quest presents its Fall 2008 Challenge, LCROSS: Exploration Through Navigation.

During this challenge, students will chart a course from the Big Island of Hawai’i to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) by using ocean navigation skills that were used in early Polynesian exploration. In Part II of the challenge, students will chart a course from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla., to one of the lunar poles by using navigation skills appropriate for space.

For both tasks, each participating classroom will submit its idea to NASA for experts to review. At the end of the challenge, students will be asked to compare and contrast methods of navigating on Earth (at sea) and in space. For both parts of the challenge, the essential question that will keep students on task will be “How do you stay on course?”

Background materials are available to help prepare for the challenge. An educator's guide aligned to national education standards is available for those who register.

For more information about the challenge and to register online, visit http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/lcross2/index.html.

This challenge is a part of the educational programming for the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission, also known as LCROSS. This mission will be navigating an impactor to look for water ice in the polar region of the moon.

Find out more about this challenge on the LCROSS Web site..

High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) Image Targeting Challenge

This challenge is brought to you by the Mar's Reconnnaissance Orbter's (MRO) High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera team in collaboration with NASA Quest. The HiRISE camera, now orbiting Mars onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, is helping NASA to search for signs of past and present water on Mars. Understanding the history of water on Mars helps scientists understand if there is now or ever has been life on Mars.

For more information, visit http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/hirise/index.html.

NASA Quest: LIMA II Challenge
For K-4 & 5-12 Educators


NASA Quest announces the LIMA II Challenge for students in grades 4-8.

In this challenge, students become scientists and propose Antarctic research. Using the Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica, the first true-color high-resolution satellite view of the Antarctic continent, students must develop a research question and debate the value of studying the chosen feature.

Registration is currently open and educational resources are available online. The challenge begins on Oct. 1, 2008, with a live webcast. Preliminary proposals are due Nov. 5, 2008.

For more information, visit http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/lima. Questions about this challenge should be directed to Quest-Challenge@mail.arc.nasa.gov.