MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: John G. Watson
April 3, 1998
NASA JOINS IN APPLE VALLEY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER
DEDICATION
NASA has assisted in recycling an old space communications
and tracking antenna into a radio telescope for the use of
students and teachers around the nation. The telescope is
controlled through a new NASA-supported facility to improve and
expand science and technology education, dedicated today in
Southern California's Apple Valley.
The Apple Valley Science and Technology Center, renamed the
Lewis Center for Education Research in honor of supporter U.S.
Representative Jerry Lewis, features an innovative Internet-
linked system that allows students across the country to remotely
control the resurrected NASA space communications antenna to
conduct radio astronomy experiments.
Among those scheduled to participate in the ceremonies today
were Mrs. Gayle Wilson, wife of Governor Pete Wilson of
California; NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin; NASA Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) Director Dr. Edward C. Stone; retired NASA
astronaut Dick Covey; and Congressman Jerry Lewis.
Staffed by a small professional staff and hundreds of
volunteers, the Lewis Center for Education Research is a hub of
learning for students of all ages interested in meteorology,
astronomy, environmental studies and aviation, among many other
subjects.
In 1996, the center took over operation of a nine-story-high
tracking antenna within the Goldstone site of NASA's Deep Space
Network, near Barstow, CA. Instead of tearing down the
decommissioned antenna, JPL entered into an agreement allowing
the center and the school district to operate the antenna as a
radio telescope for use via the Internet by students from around
the United States. NASA and JPL staff and volunteers
participated in converting the antenna into a radio telescope and
linking its control system to classrooms via the Internet.
Goldin, Lewis, Stone and Wilson were scheduled to staff the
center's mission control today to join students in Michigan and
Kentucky as they operated the giant radio telescope from their
classrooms.
The original Science and Technology Center, built nearly 10
years ago, now houses an observatory, Air Force jet flight
simulator, computer center, weather station and related hands-on
learning tools for students. It has drawn more than 80,000
students and teachers from across the nation. The center,
affiliated with the Apple Valley Unified School District, has
drawn the support of many business and community leaders from its
inception in 1985 for its effective experiments with new,
creative educational methods.
In 1997, the center was awarded a federal grant to expand
its facilities. In addition to adding offices, the new facility
offers several innovative new educational spaces, including
mission control, a high-tech control room where students from
around the world are able to control the decommissioned Deep
Space Network antenna. A digital TV studio, amateur radio
station and control room were built with support from NASA and
the Desert Community Bank and will allow students to produce and
broadcast educational programs to more than 35,000 homes in
cooperation with Hi-Desert Cablevision. The facility also
features a library, sponsored by the Assistance League of the
Victory Valley; and a Gateway to Excellence technology classroom
sponsored by GTE, which includes a science education laboratory
with a climate-controlled greenhouse.
The center also operates the Academy for Academic
Excellence, a K-12 California Public Charter School, chartered by
the Apple Valley Science and Technology Center. It combines
classroom and lab work at the center with parental schooling in
an innovative program to explore new effective learning programs.
Classes are offered at the center for both students and parents.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA.
-end-
NOTE TO BROADCASTERS: NASA TV will air a video file about the
center throughout the day on April 3. NASA Television is
available through GE-2, transponder 9C at 85 degrees West
longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 Mhz,
and audio at 6.8 Mhz.
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NOTE TO BROADCASTERS: NASA TV will air a video file about the
center throughout the day on April 3. NASA Television is
available through GE-2, transponder 9C at 85 degrees west
longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880 Mhz,
and audio at 6.8 Mhz.