NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

LCROSS: Exploration Through Navigation Challenge

NASA Quest and the LCROSS mission invite explorers (especially grades 5-8) to register for Part II of the Exploration through Navigation Challenge. In this challenge students will be tasked to chart a course from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida to one of the lunar poles using navigation skills appropriate for outer space. See: http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/lcross3/.

Participation in Part I, “Charting a Course at Sea,” though helpful, is not required to join us in Part II. Visit Part I at: http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/lcross2/.

For Challenge Part II, students will submit their navigation plan (as a class) to NASA experts for review. At the end of the Challenge, students will be invited to compare and contrast methods of navigating on Earth (at sea) and in space. For both parts of the Challenge, the essential question used to keep students on task is “How do you stay on course?”

Registration is currently open, and we invite you to visit: http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/lcross3/register.html for information and links to the registration and Pre-Survey Questionnaire. Please note that we anticipate that educators or adult supervisors will submit the registration and the Pre-Survey Questionnaire. Your complete information on these steps helps us to evaluate the impact of our challenges.

Join us in this exciting adventure that parallels the challenges faced by the LCROSS mission as it departs Earth and travels to the Moon very soon after our Navigation Challenge is completed!

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.