Education News & Blogs – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Make educational connections to NASA and JPL happenings all year long with this calendar of upcoming events and links to educational resources you can use to explore STEM with us throughout the 2023-2024 school year.

August

All Month – Go Back to School With Us

The start of the school year is a great time to explore all of the resources we have on offer for educators, parents, and K-12 students. These include everything from classroom activities to DIY student projects to video tutorials to expert talks to our Teachable Moments series, which offers education-focused explainers of the latest NASA news.

There's something for every day of the school year, and you can find it all in one place on our Back to School event page. You can also sign up to receive monthly updates about new and featured content as well as upcoming events in your inbox with the JPL Education newsletter.

Learning Resources

August 30 – See Supermoons on Parade

Skygazers will have plenty to moon over in August as the second of two supermoons this month graces the sky on August 30.

Make the event a Teachable Moment by dispelling common misconceptions about supermoons and digging into the real science behind the phenomena. Get students acting out moon phases, then have them apply what they've learned to make a Moon phases calendar and calculator. Plus, explore even more classroom activities and DIY projects all about our Moon.

Learning Resources

September

September 24 – Follow Along as Asteroid Samples Arrive on Earth

Samples collected from the surface of an asteroid will parachute down to Earth on September 24, landing about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. The samples were collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which gathered the material during a daring descent on asteroid Bennu in 2018. The mission, which marks the first time the U.S. has collected samples from an asteroid, will give scientists an unparalleled, up-close look at remnants from our early solar system.

Follow along by having students do some of the same math as OSIRIS-REx mission planners. Or, have them do their own asteroid-related experiments. It's also a great opportunity to make connections to another NASA sample-return mission.

Learning Resources

October

October 5 – Join NASA for the Psyche Launch

Did you know we can explore asteroids and other far away objects in the solar system to learn more about the interior of our own planet? That's one of the goals of NASA's Psyche mission, which is slated to launch on October 5 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission is designed to explore an asteroid – also named Psyche – that may be the remnant of a planet's core.

The Psyche spacecraft is one of just a handful of NASA missions throughout history that have used electric propulsion rather than a chemical engine, which means it's also a great opportunity to make connections to real-world examples of motion and forces. Get a primer on all the engineering and science behind the mission from our Teachable Moments series, then explore related lessons and projects.

Learning Resources

October 14 – Catch the Annular Solar Eclipse

October 14 marks the start of another exciting double-feature for skygazers: an annular solar eclipse followed by a total solar eclipse just six months later. In both events, the Sun, Moon, and Earth will align, creating a spectacular sight in the sky. But during the annular solar eclipse on October 14, a ring of sunlight will remain visible around the Moon. This is due to differences in the relative distances between the Sun, Moon, and Earth during the eclipse. In any case, remember to never look directly at the Sun without proper protection, such as certified solar eclipse glasses.

Another fun way to view a solar eclipse is by making a pinhole camera. Students can even use their pinhole cameras to make solar art. Stay tuned in October for a Teachable Moments article with more information about where and when to watch the eclipses, plus a primer on the science of solar eclipses. And explore even more eclipse lessons and activities – including a math puzzler from our NASA Pi Day Challenge.

Learning Resources

Oct. 31 – Dare Mighty Pumpkins

Every Halloween, during an annual contest held at JPL, our engineers join kids and families across the country in the hallowed tradition of pumpkin carving. But these aren't your average jack-o'-lanterns. JPL pumpkins from years past have included a simulated Moon landing, Mars-themed whack-a-mole, and an exploding pumpkin supernova. The event, which takes place during employees' lunch break, gives all-new credence to the Lab's unofficial motto, "Dare Mighty Things." And it's good timing because this Halloween is also JPL's 87th birthday.

Whether history or Halloween are your thing, we've got ways to make educational connections – including a DIY project that gets students daring mighty pumpkins, themselves.

Learning Resources

November

All Month – Explore STEM Careers

Take part in National Career Development Month in November by exploring STEM opportunities at NASA and JPL. Students can learn more about careers in STEM and hear directly from scientists and engineers working on NASA missions in our Teaching Space video series. Meanwhile, our news page has more about what it takes to be a NASA astronaut and what it's like to be a JPL intern. You can also explore a collection of stories about NASA people, Women at NASA, and Women at JPL, to learn more about the work they do.

For students already in college and pursuing STEM degrees, it's never too soon to start exploring internship opportunities for the summer. The deadline for JPL summer internships is March 29, so refresh your resume and get your application started now. Learn how to stand out with this article on how to get an internship at JPL – which also includes advice for pre-college students.

Learning Resources

December

All Month – Send Your Name to Jupiter

Here's a gift idea that doesn't cost a thing: Send a loved one's name to Jupiter with NASA's Europa Clipper mission. December is the last month to add your name to a microchip that will be flown on the spacecraft along with a poem written by the U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limón. The Europa Clipper mission, which is scheduled to launch in October 2024, is designed to explore Jupiter's ice-covered ocean moon Europa – the newest frontier in our search for life beyond Earth. So don't miss the boat – or, in this case, spacecraft – on this exciting opportunity.

Explore activities students can do in class or over winter break to write their own space poetry and engage in hands-on activities and experiments related to the Europa Clipper mission.

Learning Resources

All Month – Prepare for the Science Fair

Before you know it, it'll be science fair time. Avoid the stress of science fair prep by getting students organized and thinking about their projects before the winter recess. Start by watching our video series How to Do a Science Fair Project. A scientist and an engineer from JPL walk your students through all the steps they will need to create an original science fair project by observing the world around them and asking questions.

You can also explore our science fair starter pack of lessons and projects to get students generating ideas and thinking like scientists and engineers.

Learning Resources

January

January 4 - Take a Closer Look at Jupiter's 'Pizza Moon'

Everyone's favorite pizza moon is getting another series of close-ups from NASA's Juno mission. Now that Juno has completed its primary science goals, mission planners are tweaking the spacecraft's orbit to send it past some of Jupiter's most fascinating moons. Io – notable for the more than 150 active volcanoes that splotch its surface like a bubbling cheese pizza – is next on the docket with two planned flybys this school year. Keep an eye on the mission website for updates and images from the first flyby on Dec. 30, 2023 that you can use to engage students before the second flyby on Feb. 3, 2024.

While on the topic of Juno, which holds the title of the most distant solar-powered spacecraft, it's a great opportunity to segue into math lessons involving pi, exponents, and the inverse square law. Or, highlight another record-holder: Rosaly Lopes, the JPL scientist who discovered 71 active volcanoes on Io, for which she was given the 2006 Guiness World Record for her discovery of the most active volcanoes anywhere.

Learning Resources

February

February 18 – Learn What's Next for Mars Exploration

February 18 marks three years since NASA's Perseverance rover touched down on Mars, sticking the landing on one of the riskiest Red Planet descents to date. While the rover is coring away on Mars, collecting a diverse array of scientifically intriguing samples, mission teams here are busy designing, developing, and testing various devices to bring those samples to Earth. While we've collected samples from other objects in the solar system before (see October's asteroid sample return), this would be the first time we've retrieved samples from another planet. It requires an ambitious plan executed by multiple teams that need to achieve a number of other firsts – including the first launch from another planet.

Get students following along with classroom activities, projects, and challenges that have them apply their coding and collaboration skills to designing their own Mars sample return missions.

Learning Resources

March

March 7-15 – Take the NASA Pi Day Challenge

There's more than pie to look forward to on March 14 as we'll be releasing an all-new set of Pi Day Challenge math problems involving NASA missions and science. Look for the latest problem set along with links to more resources and ways to celebrate Pi Day with us starting on March 7. You can get a sneak peek with the resources below, which work all year long, even without the slice of pie – although, we wouldn't blame you if you had one anyway.

Learning Resources

April

April 8 – Watch the Total Solar Eclipse

Time to get some solar eclipse glasses and dig out your pinhole cameras once again – this time for the headliner, a total solar eclipse on April 8. The eclipse will start in the South Pacific Ocean before passing over Mexico and following a diagonal path northeast over the U.S. and Canada. NASA is holding community events across the country where you can hear from speakers and participate in activities. Learn more on the agency's web page for all things solar eclipse.

Whether you're covering eclipse topics for the first time this school year or expanding on learning from October, this solar eclipse is a good time to get students exploring more about the science of eclipses. Start by looking at the five science experiments NASA has funded for the 2024 solar eclipse, then have students investigate solar eclipse science for themselves.

Learning Resources

April 22 - Celebrate Earth Day With NASA

You may not immediately think of Earth science when you think of NASA, but it's a big part of what we do. Earth Day on April 22 is a great time to learn more about our Earth and climate science projects and missions, especially with the much anticipated NISAR mission taking to the skies in 2024 to track minute changes in the planet's surface, including those from natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.

Whether you want to focus on Earth’s surface and geology, climate change, extreme weather, or the water budget, we have an abundance of lessons, student projects and Teachable Moments to guide your way.

Learning Resources

May

May 6-10 – Give Thanks to Teachers and Black Holes

It may not seem like there's much to be gained from the dual programming of Black Hole Week and Teacher Appreciation Week on May 6-10, but sending students off to learn more about everyone's favorite spacely phenomenon might just give teachers the breather they deserve after a busy school year.

Have students dig into the science of black holes or even try out an experiment to learn how a black hole collision helped prove the existence of gravitational waves. Meanwhile, teachers can learn about all the ways their work has inspired us.

Learning Resources

All Month – Launch Into Summer

Speaking of black holes, don't let students' learning fall into one as the summer gets into full swing. Send them off with links to these DIY summer projects. There's even more for parents and families on our Learning Space With NASA at Home page, which also has information to help direct students' learning during out-of-school time.

Learning Resources

TAGS: Teachers, Classroom, Lessons, Educators, K-12, Parents, Students, Resources

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kim Orr, Web Producer, NASA-JPL Education Office

Kim Orr is a web and content producer for the Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her pastimes are laughing and going on Indiana Jones style adventures.

Explore how NASA's Psyche mission aims to help scientists answer questions about Earth and the formation of our solar system. Then, make connections to STEM learning in the classroom.

NASA is launching a spacecraft in October 2023 to visit the asteroid Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid. The mission with the same name, Psyche, will study the asteroid, which is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, to learn more about our solar system, including the core of our own planet.

Read more to find out what we will learn from the Psyche mission. Get to know the science behind the mission and follow along in the classroom using STEM teaching and learning resources from NASA.

Jump To

Why It's Important
How It Will Work
Follow Along
Teach It
Explore More

Why It's Important

The dark rocky and metallic Psyche asteroid appears covered with large and small craters in this illustration. Some of the craters have a lighter brown material in them. The asteroid is illuminated from the upper left.

This illustration depicts the 140-mile-wide (226-kilometer-wide) asteroid Psyche, which lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU | + Expand image

Asteroids are thought to be rocky remnants that were left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. Of the more than 1.3 million known asteroids in our solar system, Psyche’s metallic composition makes it unique to study. Ground-based observations indicate that Psyche is a giant metal-rich asteroid about one-sixteenth the diameter of Earth’s Moon and shaped like a potato. Scientists believe it might be the partial nickel-iron core of a shattered planetesimal – a small world the size of a city that is the first building block of a planet. Asteroid Psyche could offer scientists a close look at the deep interiors of planets like Earth, Mercury, Venus, and Mars, which are hidden beneath layers of mantle and crust.

We can’t see or measure Earth’s core directly – it is more than 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) below the surface and we have only been able to drill about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) deep with current technology. The pressure at Earth’s core measures about three million times the pressure of the atmosphere at the surface, and the temperature of Earth’s core is about 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,000 degrees Celsius), so even if we could get science instruments there, the hostile conditions would make operations practically impossible. The Psyche asteroid may provide information that will allow us to better understand Earth’s core, including its composition and how it was created. The asteroid is the only known place in our solar system where scientists might be able to examine the metal from the core of a planetesimal.

The Psyche mission's science goals are to understand a previously unexplored building block of planet formation (iron cores); to explore a new type of world; and to look inside terrestrial planets, including Earth, by directly examining the interior of one of these planetary building blocks, which otherwise could not be seen. The science objectives that will help scientists meet these goals include determining if asteroid Psyche is actually leftover core material, measuring its composition, and understanding the relative age of Psyche's surface regions. The mission will also study whether small metal-rich bodies include the same light elements that are hypothesized to exist in Earth's core, determine if Psyche was formed under similar or different conditions than Earth's core, and characterize Psyche's surface features.

How It Will Work

The Psyche mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Psyche’s solar arrays are designed to work in low-light conditions because the spacecraft will be operating hundreds of millions of miles from the Sun. The twin plus-sign shaped arrays will deploy and latch into place about an hour after launch from Earth in a process that will take seven minutes for each wing. With the arrays fully deployed, the spacecraft will be about the size of a singles tennis court. The spacecraft’s distance from the Sun will determine the amount of power it can generate. At Earth, the arrays will be able to generate 21 kilowatts, which is enough electricity to power three average U.S. homes. While at asteroid Psyche, the arrays will produce about two kilowatts, which is a little more than what is needed to power a hair dryer.

An illustration shows the Psyche spacecraft in space with its two plus-sign shaped solar panels extended on each side.

An illustration of NASA’s Psyche spacecraft and its vast solar arrays. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU | + Expand image

At left, xenon plasma emits a blue glow from an electric Hall thruster. On the right is a similar non-operating thruster.

At left, xenon plasma emits a blue glow from an electric Hall thruster identical to those that will propel NASA's Psyche spacecraft to the main asteroid belt. On the right is a similar non-operating thruster. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + View image and details

The spacecraft will rely on the launch vehicle’s large chemical rocket engines to blast off the launchpad and escape Earth’s gravity, but once in space, the Psyche spacecraft will travel using solar-electric propulsion. Solar-electric propulsion uses electricity from the solar arrays to power the spacecraft’s journey to asteroid Psyche. For fuel, Psyche will carry tanks full of xenon, the same neutral gas used in car headlights and plasma TVs. The spacecraft’s four thrusters – only one of which will be on at any time – will use electromagnetic fields to accelerate and expel charged atoms, or ions, of that xenon. As those ions are expelled, they will create thrust that gently propels Psyche through space, emitting blue beams of ionized xenon. The thrust will be so gentle that it will exert about the same amount of pressure you’d feel holding three quarters in your hand, but it’s enough to accelerate Psyche through deep space. You can read more about ion propulsion in this Teachable Moment.

The spacecraft, which will travel 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers) over nearly 6 years to reach its destination, will also use the gravity of Mars to increase its speed and to set its trajectory, or path, to intersect with asteroid Psyche’s orbit around the Sun. It will do this by entering and leaving the gravitational field of Mars, stealing just a little bit of kinetic energy from Mars’ orbital motion and adding it to its own. This slingshot move will save propellant, time, and expense by providing a trajectory change and speed boost without using any of the spacecraft’s onboard fuel.

Upon arrival at Psyche, the spacecraft will spend 26 months making observations and collecting data as it orbits the asteroid at different altitudes. Unlike many objects in the solar system that rotate like a spinning top, the asteroid Psyche rotates on its side, like a wheel. Mission planning teams had to take this unique characteristic into account in planning the spacecraft's orbits. The different orbits will provide scientists with ideal lighting for the spacecraft's cameras and they will enable the mission to observe the asteroid using different scientific instruments onboard.

The spacecraft will map and study Psyche using a multispectral imager, a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, a magnetometer, and a radio instrument (for gravity measurement). During its cruise to the asteroid, the spacecraft will also test a new laser communication technology called Deep Space Optical Communication, which encodes data in photons at near-infrared wavelengths instead of radio waves. Using light instead of radio allows the spacecraft to send more data back and forth at a faster rate.

Follow Along

Psyche is scheduled to launch no sooner than October 5, 2023 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Tune in to watch the launch on NASA TV.

Visit the mission website to follow along as data are returned and explore the latest news, images, and updates about this mysterious world.

Teach It

The Psyche mission is a great opportunity to engage students with hands-on learning opportunities. Explore these lessons and resources to get students excited about the STEM involved in the mission

Resources for Teachers

Activities for Students

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Resources for Kids

Check out these related resources for kids from NASA Space Place:

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anne Tapp, Professor of Teacher Education, Saginaw Valley State University

Anne Tapp is a professor of teacher education at Saginaw Valley State University. In 2023, she served as an educator in residence with the K-12 Education team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Outside of writing and teaching, she enjoys serving as a volunteer for educational organizations, traveling, and gazing at the stars.

A bi-coastal, multi-layered collaboration brings Ph.D. student interns to JPL for a unique opportunity to work on cutting-edge battery technology.

The last six months, interns Loleth Robinson and Jonah Wang spent their days in the Electrochemistry Lab at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, testing, and analyzing novel power-storage cells that are pushing the frontiers of battery technology for space missions.

It’s the type of work that needs to be performed with one’s hands: chemicals mixed, cell casings assembled, wiring tinkered with, batteries cycled.

You can’t learn this in a classroom. At JPL, you can.

Two sets of long black gloves extend from circular openings set into the window panels of an enclosed case. Inside the case are bottles with red and blue caps, wires, and boxes.

Gloves extend from a "glove box" where battery electrolytes are fabricated. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image

The lab greets visitors with hands: four arm-length inflated rubber gloves extend as if to grab something. These gloves, inside out and ready to be fitted onto human arms, are connected to a “glove box” — a glass case filled with what looks like pharmaceutical bottles and the metal chemical canisters of a cartoon mad scientist.

It’s all very analog, retro even.

Beyond the glove boxes, a sinuous tangle of cables cascades over the edge of a desk, winding between battery cell prototypes and a potentiostat, an electronic device that measures the current and voltage cycled through the batteries. As electricity hums through this web of hardware, data pours into a series of computers, filling spreadsheets that wait to be analyzed.

For Robinson and Wang — both Ph.D. students at The City College of New York, studying chemical engineering with a concentration on the development of advanced battery technologies for space — getting their hands on this equipment in a NASA laboratory is as good as it gets.

“I don't think that I could have gotten a better opportunity anywhere else, working under brilliant scientists,” Wang says.

Wang wears lab goggles, a blue labcoat with a JPL patch, and purple surgical gloves and holds wires extending from a web of wires festooned with electrical tape.

Wang connects battery cells to a potentiastat machine to cycle and collect data. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image

That internship opportunity was the product of a collaboration that spans 3,000 miles and three organizations — JPL, CCNY, and NASA’s MIRO program.

Hands on Hardware, Minds on Missions

From its inception, this collaborative internship program between JPL, MIRO, and CCNY’s Center for Advanced Batteries for Space, now in its third year, sought to bring highly-capable Ph.D. students to JPL to put their minds to work solving problems that are of consequence to actual JPL missions and projects.

“I really wanted to make sure that the students had an opportunity to contribute to something meaningful,” says the interns’ JPL mentor, John-Paul Jones, who helped develop the JPL-MIRO-CCNY internship program. Jones is a battery technologist in the Electrochemical Research, Technology & Engineering Group. He is also the cognizant engineer facilitating the development of batteries for two projects — a lander designed to retrieve samples from Mars and a system of self-guided robots known as CADRE. “So we've tried to make sure that their projects align with something that's mission related.”

Apply Now

Learn about internship opportunities at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and apply today!

Robinson and Wang are focused on the Europa Lander and Venus Aerobot mission concepts — building batteries, performing testing, analyzing data, and meeting with their JPL colleagues to present and defend their work.

“They are right in the middle of cutting-edge battery research,” says Will West, the group supervisor of the Electrochemical Research, Technology, & Engineering, who oversees the interns' work with Jones. “They are being treated on these projects just like the other team members. They're doing experiments, generating data, and interpreting the data as a scientist would. Importantly, they must present and defend their work to the JPL team members. By doing so, they strengthen their scientific rigor and communication skills.”

While current battery technologies, primarily lithium-based, have advanced significantly in efficiency and performance in recent decades, they face certain constraints, including resource scarcity, safety concerns, and performance limitations. The batteries that Robinson and Wang are researching and testing could pave the way for improved energy-storing technologies that are more robust in extreme space-like conditions as well as safer and longer lasting even here on Earth, with potential applications ranging from electric vehicles to grid-scale energy storage.

And what does building and testing batteries actually look like?

First, the students synthesize mixtures of chemicals in the glove box to fabricate a novel battery electrolyte. (An electrolyte is the solution inside a battery that transfers ions between the positive and negative terminals.) They then build the battery cell using little metal cell casings that look like the battery you might find in your wristwatch. This all takes place inside the glove box and a vacuum chamber to avoid exposing dangerous chemicals to open air. Once the cell enclosure is complete, the cell can be removed from the glove box and connected to a set of wires that are fed into a potentiostat. This device measures the characteristics of the battery’s current and voltage and channels that information to a computer, where Robinson and Wang can analyze the data.

“It's amazing getting the hands-on experience,” Robinson says. “It’s an absolutely different experience from what I've seen in the industry and, of course, with just regular school research projects.”

Robinson's long braids fall around her face and glasses as she operates a large dropper with her hands and arms inside the glove box.

Robinson mixes chemicals to create a battery electrolyte formula for testing. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image

Beyond building, testing, and analyzing battery cells, Robinson and Wang are also scouring related scientific literature to identify promising applications for future battery technologies.

For an internship, it’s no walk in the park.

“It's definitely a lot of hard work,” Wang says. “There's a really steep learning curve. I've learned a lot in a really short period of time. It's really amazing to be able to learn from actual research scientists who are trained in their fields.”

And while interns are not expected to have the depth of knowledge and experience that seasoned veterans do, Jones and West say they want to prepare the students for their paths in rigorous fields of research.

“Obviously we help them,” Jones says. “But I really want them to have some kind of ownership.”

Rob Messinger, the interns’ doctoral advisor, is an associate professor of chemical engineering at The City College of New York and the director of CCNY’s Center for Advanced Batteries for Space, a lab that focuses on upstream and emerging battery chemistries specifically geared toward powering spacecraft.

Messinger says the partnership with JPL has given the students in his program at CCNY an invaluable experience that he could not have created in the lab or classroom.

“It's difficult to even state or articulate the impact that this [internship program] has on CCNY students — scientifically, professionally, and personally,” Messinger says. “They have the opportunity to go into a NASA lab and directly work on NASA-relevant problems. But I think maybe even more valuable to the students is the opportunity to be mentored and trained by JPL scientists and engineers that have accumulated decades of experience.”

The Power Behind the Program

While the internship program is now humming along in its third year, only a few years ago it was just an idea.

In 2019, Jones received an email from Messinger out of the blue about collaborating on a rechargeable aluminum-graphite battery technology; his interest was piqued. As he read further, Jones saw the opportunity to create a unique internship program at JPL and jumped at the opportunity.

Jones had started at JPL in 2013 as an intern, eventually moving on to a Caltech postdoc stint before landing a full-time position back at the Laboratory. This was his chance to pay it forward.

Messinger thought that some of the research his doctoral students had been conducting in his lab at CCNY could be of interest to JPL.

“We had reason to believe, based on some preliminary data and prior work, that this particular aluminum-graphite technology could deliver high power at low temperatures,” Messinger says. “And so that was the initial hook to work with JPL — because those characteristics could potentially be useful for space.”

With Jones and group supervisor Will West on board at JPL, Messinger submitted a proposal to the MIRO funding opportunity made available by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement. MIRO, which stands for MUREP Institutional Research Opportunity, was established to strengthen and develop the research capacity and infrastructure of minority-serving institutions in areas of direct alignment with NASA’s missions.

How to Get an Internship at JPL

Learn about the world of JPL internships, the skills that will help you stand out, and how to get on the right trajectory even before college.

“I long had the idea of working with JPL,” Messinger says. “And then MIRO was the perfect funding source to enable this unique and strategic partnership.”

After some months of planning, Messinger and Jones launched the JPL-CCNY internship program, which was originally set to begin during the summer of 2020. The timeline, however, was derailed due to the pandemic, but after reworking their approach to accommodate remote collaboration, Jones and Messinger put their first intern, Brendan Hawkins, to work in the summer of 2021.

“It was really challenging to try to teach somebody how to build a battery in a lab from 3,000 miles away,” Jones says.

Fortunately, Hawkins was able to later come to JPL in person and gain that valuable hands-on experience for a few months at the end of the program. Since then, the program has hit the ground running, welcoming two other interns, Harrison Asare and Brian Chen, prior to Wang and Robinson in early 2023.

West says the program is a boon to all involved.

“The NASA MIRO program is funding the grad students, and they're working on projects that we assign here at JPL. We are so impressed with the huge contributions they’ve made to the projects,” West says. “So it's a huge win for JPL and NASA. And I would say certainly a win for the grad students to have this experience and a win for CCNY who is now getting these well-trained grad students back.”

Novel Energy Sources

For their part, the JPL staff say they have benefited immensely from the experience with their interns. West says Robinson and Wang’s infusion of ideas has been invaluable to his laboratory.

“I have been amazed by how quickly they acclimate to this high-intensity environment and contribute almost immediately,” West says. “They bring new ideas and fresh perspectives that have resulted in several journal manuscripts.”

Jones says collaborating with the interns has made him a better engineer.

“I think that the best way you learn something is to try to teach it to somebody else,” Jones says. “And I feel like I've learned an awful lot from this.”

Back in New York, the interns bring renewed energy and practical experience to the Center for Advanced Batteries for Space at CCNY.

“The collaboration with JPL has taken a lot of the research and development that we do here at CCNY, and it has given it life, it has given it applications that are exciting — it puts wind under our wings,” Messinger says.

Charged Up to Take Flight

For Robinson and Wang, neither knows exactly where their careers will take them, but both are certain this experience has opened doors.

“My mentors have tried to teach me how to be a better scientific researcher and how to really design and also do experiments,” Wang says. “That's something that might not show up on paper. Being able to say I worked at NASA is great, but I think actually learning the kind of stuff that it takes to do good experiments — that’s what’s really valuable.”

Robinson laughed recalling the moment she decided to pursue this course of study. She attended Messinger's presentation about his research program and never forgot his closing remarks.

“[Messinger] said the two coolest things to work on are dinosaurs or outer space, and dinosaurs are extinct. So take the second-best thing.”

Robinson, who was born in the U.S. but grew up primarily in Costa Rica, says she could have never imagined where that “second best thing” could take her — from a Ph.D. in New York City to working on spacecraft in Southern California to who-knows-what next.

“[Younger] me would have never thought that I'd be working in a NASA internship and doing a Ph.D. in chemical engineering,” Robinson says. “I couldn't even imagine that this was possible.”

The laboratory’s STEM internship and fellowship programs are managed by the JPL Education Office. Extending the NASA Office of STEM Engagement’s reach, JPL Education seeks to create the next generation of scientists, engineers, technologists and space explorers by supporting educators and bringing the excitement of NASA missions and science to learners of all ages.

The MUREP Institutional Research Opportunity, or MIRO, was established to strengthen and develop the research capacity and infrastructure of Minority Serving Institutions in areas of strategic importance and value to NASA’s mission and national priorities. MIRO works with 15 Minority Serving Institutions to offer awards that aim to support bright minds in STEM, while also enhancing the capability of institutions to perform NASA-related research and education.

The Minority University Research and Education Project, or MUREP, is a larger program through which the NASA Office of STEM Engagement engages underrepresented populations and minority-serving institutions through a wide variety of initiatives.

Career opportunities in STEM and beyond can be found online at jpl.jobs. Learn more about careers and life at JPL on LinkedIn and by following @nasajplcareers on Instagram.

TAGS: College, University, Internships, Opportunities, College Students, MSP, MIRO, MUREP, CCNY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vince Robbins, Writer, JPL Internal Communications and Engagement

Vince Robbins is a writer on the Internal Communications and Engagement team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He enjoys reading books, traveling light, and learning about LA history.

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Learn about internships and fellowships at JPL and NASA, plus meet current interns, and get tips on how to make your resume stand out.

Engage With Us

From student challenges to virtual tours, expert talks, and beyond, there are numerous ways to join the conversation with us.

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TAGS: K-12 Education, Informal Education, Resources

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

NASA/JPL Edu

NASA/JPL Edu supports science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education by providing NASA and JPL activities, resources and materials to educators and students in grades K-12 as well as STEM internships and research opportunities to higher education students and faculty.

Learn about a new mission seeking to understand some of the greatest mysteries of our universe, and explore hands-on teaching resources that bring it all down to Earth.

Scientists may soon uncover new insights about some of the most mysterious phenomena in our universe with the help of the newly launched Euclid mission. Built and managed by the European Space Agency, Euclid will use a suite of instruments developed, in part, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to explore the curious nature of dark energy and dark matter along with their role in the expansion and acceleration of our universe.

Read on to learn how the Euclid mission will probe these cosmological mysteries. Then, find out how to use demonstrations and models to help learners grasp these big ideas.

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Why It’s Important

No greater question in our universe promotes wonder in scientists and non-scientists alike than that of the origin of our universe. The Euclid mission will allow scientists to study the nearly imperceptible cosmic components that may hold exciting answers to this question.

Edwin Hubble's observations of the expanding universe in the 1920s marked the beginnings of what's now known as the big-bang theory. We've since made monumental strides in determining when and how the big bang would have taken place by looking at what's known as cosmic background radiation using instruments such as COBE and WMAP in 1989 and 2001, respectively. However, there's one piece of Hubble's discovery that still has scientists stumped: our universe is not only expanding, but as scientists discovered in 1998, that expansion is also accelerating.

This side by side comparison shows a constant rate of expansion of the universe, represented by the expanding sphere on the left, and an accelerating rate of expansion of the universe, represented by the expanding sphere on the right. Each dot on the spheres represents a galaxy and shows how galaxies move apart from each other faster in the universe that has an accelerating rate of expansion. | Watch on YouTube

How can this be? It makes intuitive sense that, regardless of the immense force of the big bang that launched all matter across the known universe 13.8 billion years ago, that matter would eventually come to a rest and possibly even start to collapse. Instead, it's as if we've dropped a glass onto the ground and discovered that the shards are flying away from us faster and faster into perpetuity.

A sideways funnel that fans out at one end encapsulates an illustration of the history of the universe starting with the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago through the first stars, the development of galaxies, and accelerated expansion.

An illustrated timeline of the universe. Credit: WMAP | + Expand image

Scientists believe that answers may lie in two yet-to-be-understood factors of our universe: dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter is unlike the known matter we experience here on Earth, such as what's found on the periodic table. We can't actually see dark matter; we can only infer its presence. It has mass and therefore gravity, making it an attractive force capable of pulling things together. Amazingly, dark matter makes up roughly 27% of the known universe compared with the much more modest 5% of "normal matter" that we experience day to day. However, dark matter is extremely dilute throughout the universe with concentrations of 105 particles per cubic meter.

This animated pie chart shows rounded values for the three known components of the universe: visible matter (5%), dark matter (27%), and dark energy (68%). Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center | › Full video and caption

In opposition to the attractive force of dark matter, we have dark energy. Dark energy is a repulsive force and makes up roughly 68% of energy in the known universe. Scientists believe that the existence of dark energy and the amount of repulsion it displays compared with dark matter is what's causing our universe to not only expand, but also to expand faster and faster.

Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, a senior project scientist with the Hubble Space Telescope mission, explains how the mission has been helping scientists learn more about dark energy. Credit: NASA Goddard | Watch on YouTube

But to truly understand this mysterious force and how it interacts with both dark matter and normal matter, scientists will have to map barely detectable distortions of light traversing the universe, carefully measuring how that light changes over time and distance in every direction. As JPL Astrophysicist Jason Rhodes explains, “Dark energy has such a subtle effect that we need to survey billions of galaxies to adequately map it.”

And that's where Euclid comes in.

How It Works

The European Space Agency and NASA each contributed to the development of the Euclid mission, which launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on July 1. The spacecraft consists of a 1.2-meter (48-inch) space telescope and two science instruments: an optical camera and a near-infrared camera that also serves as a spectrometer. These instruments will provide a treasure trove of data for scientists of numerous disciplines, ranging from exoplanet hunters to cosmologists.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/images/redshift_demo.gif

Light waves get stretched as the universe expands similar to how this ink mark stretches out as the elastic is pulled. Get students modeling and exploring this effect with this standards-aligned math lesson. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image

This infographic is divided into three sectionss. The first describes how wavelengths increase over time, shifting from blue to yellow to red as objects in space get older and farther away. The second shows how light stretched by the expansion of space becomes redder and enters the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The third shows how telescopes like Roman use infrared detectors to see this ancient light and learn about the early universe.

This graphic illustrates how cosmological redshift works and how it offers information about the universe’s evolution. Credit: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI) | › Full image and caption

As Gisella de Rosa at the Space Telescope Science Institute explains, “The ancillary science topics we will be able to study with Euclid range from the evolution of the objects we see in the sky today to detecting populations of galaxies and creating catalogs for astronomers. The data will serve the entire space community.”

The cameras aboard Euclid will operate at 530-920 nanometers (optical light) and at 920-2020 nanometers (near infrared) with each boasting more than 576 million and 65 million pixels, respectively. These cameras are capable of measuring the subtle changes to the light collected from celestial objects and can determine the distances to billions of galaxies across a survey of 15,000 square degrees – one-third of the entire sky.

Meanwhile, Euclid's spectrometer will collect even more detailed measurements of the distance to tens of millions of galaxies by looking at redshift. Redshift describes how wavelengths of light change ever so slightly as objects move away from us. It is a critical phenomenon for measuring the speed at which our universe is expanding. Similar to the way sound waves change as a result of the Doppler effect, wavelengths of light are compressed to shorter wavelengths (bluer) as something approaches you and extended to longer wavelengths (redder) as it moves away from you. As determined by a Nobel Prize winning team of astronomers, our universe isn’t just red-shifting over time, distant objects are becoming redder faster.

Euclid will measure these incredibly minuscule changes in wavelength for objects near and far, providing an accurate measurement of how the light has changed as a factor of time and distance and giving us a rate of acceleration of the universe. Furthermore, Euclid will be able to map the relative densities of dark matter and normal matter as they interact with dark energy, creating unevenly distributed pockets of more attractive forces. This will allow scientists to identify minute differences in where the universe is expanding by looking at the way that light is altered or "lensed."

The multi-dimensional maps created by Euclid – which will include depth and time in addition to the height and width of the sky – will inform a complementary mission already in development by NASA, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Launching in 2026, this space telescope will look back in time with even greater detail, targeting areas of interest provided by Euclid. The telescope will use instruments with higher sensitivity and spatial resolution to peer deeper into redshifted and faint galaxies, building on the work of Euclid to look farther into the accelerating universe. As Caltech’s Gordon Squires describes it: “We’re trying to understand 90% of our entire universe. Both of these telescopes will provide essential data that will help us start to uncover these colossal mysteries.”

Teach It

The abstract concepts of the scope and origin of our universe and the unimaginable scale of cosmology can be difficult to communicate to learners. However, simple models and simulations can help make these topics more tangible. See below to find out how, plus explore more resources about our expanding universe.

Resources

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NASA's Universe of Learning materials are based upon work supported by NASA under award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

TAGS: K-12 Education, Teaching, Teachers, Educators, Resources, Universe, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Euclid, Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, Universe of Learning

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brandon Rodriguez, Educator Professional Development Specialist, NASA-JPL Education Office

Brandon Rodriguez is the educator professional development specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Outside of promoting STEM education, he enjoys reading philosophy, travel and speaking to your dog like it's a person.

Science fiction meets science fact in this Star Wars inspired Teachable Moment all about ion propulsion and Newton’s Laws.

In the News

What do "Star Wars," NASA's Dawn spacecraft and Newton's Laws of Motion have in common? An educational lesson that turns science fiction into science fact using spreadsheets – a powerful tool for developing the scientific models addressed in the Next Generation Science Standards. Keep reading to learn more and find out how to get students wielding the force.

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Why It's Important
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Why It's Important

The TIE (Twin Ion Engine) fighter is a staple of the "Star Wars" universe. Darth Vader flew one in "A New Hope." Poe Dameron piloted one in "The Force Awakens." And many, many Imperial pilots met their fates in them. While the fictional TIE fighters in "Star Wars" flew a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, ion engines are a reality in this galaxy today – and have a unique connection to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

May the 4th Lessons

Celebrate Star Wars Day with these standards-aligned lessons in motion and forces for grades K-12.

Launched in 1998, the first spacecraft to use an ion engine was Deep Space 1, which flew by asteroid 9969 Braille and comet Borrelly. Fueled by the success of Deep Space 1, engineers at JPL set forth to develop the next spacecraft that would use ion propulsion. This mission, called Dawn, would take ion-powered spacecraft to the next level by allowing Dawn to go into orbit twice – around the two largest objects in the asteroid belt: Vesta and Ceres.

How It Works

Ion engines rely on two principles that Isaac Newton first described in 1687. First, a positively charged atom (ion) is pushed out of the engine at a high velocity. Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, so then a small force pushes back on the spacecraft in the opposite direction – forward! According to Newton’s Second Law of Motion, there is a relationship between the force (F) exerted on an object, its mass (m) and its acceleration (a). The equation F=ma describes that relationship and tells us that the small force applied to the spacecraft by the exiting atom provides a small amount of acceleration to the spacecraft. Push enough atoms out, and you'll get enough acceleration to really speed things up.

Why is It Important?

Compared with traditional chemical rockets, ion propulsion is faster, cheaper and safer:

Faster: Spacecraft powered by ion engines can reach speeds of up to 90,000 meters per second (more than 201,000 mph!)
Cheaper: When it comes to fuel efficiency, ion engines can reach more than 90 percent fuel efficiency, while chemical rockets are only about 35 percent efficient.
Safer: Ion thrusters are fueled by inert gases. Most of them use xenon, which is a non-toxic, chemically inert (no risk of exploding), odorless, tasteless and colorless gas.

These properties make ion propulsion a very attractive solution when engineers are designing spacecraft. While not every spacecraft can use ion propulsion – some need greater rates of acceleration than ion propulsion can provide – the number and types of missions using these efficient engines is growing. In addition to being used on the Dawn spacecraft and communication satellites orbiting Earth, ion propulsion could be used to boost the International Space Station into higher orbits and will likely be a part of many future missions exploring our own solar system.

Teach It

Newton’s Laws of Motion are an important part of middle and high school physical science and are addressed specifically by the Next Generation Science Standards as well as Common Core Math standards. The lesson "Ion Propulsion: Using Spreadsheets to Model Additive Velocity" lets students study the relationship between force, mass and acceleration as described by Newton's Second Law as they develop spreadsheet models that apply those principles to real-world situations.

Educator Guides

Student Activities

Using the Force

Stay on target, make a hovercraft, and explore more independent projects for students all about motion and forces.

Grades K-12

Time Varies

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Website: Dawn Mission
Blog: Dawn Journal
Video: Crazy Engineering - Ion Propulsion
Ion propulsion interactives
Eyes on the Solar System: Dawn Mission Tour (scroll to "Solar System Tours" and click the "Dawn" link)

This feature was originally published on May 3, 2016.

TAGS: May the Fourth, Star Wars Day, F=ma, ion propulsion, Dawn, Deep Space 1, lesson, classroom activity, NGSS, Common Core Math

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lyle Tavernier, Educational Technology Specialist, NASA-JPL Education Office

Lyle Tavernier is an educational technology specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When he’s not busy working in the areas of distance learning and instructional technology, you might find him running with his dog, cooking or planning his next trip.

Four pre-service teachers at Cal Poly Pomona are developing their skills in lesson design and delivery as they study Earth science concepts and prepare for graduation.

Four woman face the camera, arranged two by two, in a geology classroom. Two rocks sit on a table in front of them.

Clockwise from upper left: Amie Gallardo, Sofia Vallejo, Afiya Kindle, Jacquelin Galvez-Coyt. Image courtesy: Brandon Rodriguez | + Expand image

During the fall semester of 2022, I had the privilege of working with the Education Department at California Polytechnic University in Pomona, specifically with pre-service teachers taking coursework in Earth science. During our collaboration, the curriculum had the students split time in class between learning about geology and Earth’s history and then designing and engaging in classroom activities related to the technical content that they could take to their own classes in the future. This combination had Cal Poly students learning science and education hand-in-hand each week and led to some amazing classroom lessons and lab activities.

One group of young women in the program stood out as exceptionally passionate about their future careers. This team consisted of four seniors: Jacquelin Galvez-Coyt, hoping to someday teach kindergarten; Amie Gallardo, who is planning to teach fourth grade; Afiya Kindle, who is interested in teaching elementary or middle school; and Sofia Vallejo, who is interested in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Despite their interest in working with young students and collaborating to design lessons for those students, each of these pre-service teachers allowed their individuality to shape how they navigated lesson design and implementation. I recently sat down with them to ask about their instructional style and aspirations for classrooms of their own.

Now that we’re back to in-person classes, how is the transition going?

Sofia: Returning from remote instruction felt eerie at first, but it’s so nice to return to communicate with people and build connections in a non-digital way. In-person classes prepare you to communicate with colleagues in real life, build social skills, and read body language. All of these skills are critical for a teacher in order to understand and better help students to succeed.

Amie: Returning from remote instruction has been amazing. While it had its perks, I believe, as students, we learn a lot more while working hands-on with our projects than is possible in distance learning. If we’re trying to develop and assess activities we can do with kids, that really requires being face-to-face.

A woman stands in front of a classroom. She is wearing a flannel jacket and rubber gloves while holding a rock. A person in the class faces her and has her hand up.

Amie Gallardo provides an Earth science demonstration to a class of education students at Cal Poly Pomona. Image courtesy: Brandon Rodriguez | + Expand image

What are you most excited about when it comes to having your own classroom, and how will you get your kids excited about STEM?

Afiya: I am most confident about creating a genuine safe space for kids. I’ll be able to communicate how much I care about them and about our shared future, and I think there could never be enough genuinely kind and caring teachers in this world.

Jacquelin: I think my kids will be excited about STEM because of how easy it's become to incorporate activities. There are many resources out there for teachers to use for teaching math and science that don't rely solely on a textbook. Activities that use inexpensive materials or that require a little DIY skills go a long way for students.

Afiya: Exactly! I know I developed my love for science from being hands-on and actually somewhat “in charge” of an experiment on my own. Winning a science fair competition in seventh grade for a greenhouse I built really boosted my confidence and helped reassure me of my scholastic abilities as a kid.

You led a really cool lesson with your classmates where you had them use Oreos to model tectonic boundaries. How do you feel that lesson went?

Jacqueline: I was really proud of our group. After giving a lecture to the students about tectonic plate boundaries, we dispersed Oreos to everyone. We were set up around the classroom demonstrating the activity and giving verbal instructions for everyone to follow. My favorite part was when I saw two students by me go, “Oohhhh,” and smile once they got their Oreos to demonstrate the plate boundaries correctly.

Amie: I thought it went really well! All the students in our classroom enjoyed it. Although we, as adults, may know about plate tectonics, having our hands on the Oreos to understand it made it more enjoyable.

Afiya: Plus, who doesn’t love Oreos? They’re even vegan!

Two hands wearing rubber gloves hold the top portion of an Oreo cookie. The image is animated to show the cookie top is broken in half and represents the sliding of tectonic plates

An Oreo cookie is used to demonstrate rock fault movement. Image courtesy: Brandon Rodriguez | + Expand image

Which of the NASA-JPL lessons that you’ve implemented did you enjoy, and why?

Jacqueline: My favorite JPL activity we did was the Moon Phases activity. Having one team member to the side to give the instructions allows another student to view the different Moon phases. Then you switch so both students get to see that perspective. My second favorite activity was creating layers with different colored Play-Doh and demonstrating them as different plate boundaries and folds.

Amie: The NASA lesson that I enjoyed the most was the one we did on lunar eclipses. Much like myself, many students often have an early fascination with the Moon. Learning more about the Moon and lunar eclipses made me excited about the semester.

A woman wearing a mask and glasses on the right hand side looks to the left while holding a foam ball on a stick representing the moon. A light source on the left representing the Sun shines, casting a shadow on the woman's face.

Sofia Vallejo uses a foam ball and lamp to demonstrate how solar eclipses occur. Image courtesy: Brandon Rodriguez | + Expand image

What’s next for you after you finish at Cal Poly Pomona?

Jacqueline: After I graduate at Cal Poly, I plan to attend UC Riverside to complete my credential program. While I am there, I would love to get my student teaching experience. Once I complete my credential program, I plan to apply to work at schools in the Inland Empire [in Southern California]. I want to be able to give back to the communities that influenced who I am today.

Sofia: My plans after Cal Poly are to take some time off to gain experience in the field as a substitute teacher. I also am looking to gain more volunteer experience, skills, and exposure. In the future, I want to enroll in UC Riverside to earn my teaching credential and master's degree.

Looking for ways to bring NASA STEM into your classroom or already have a great idea? The Education Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory serves educators in the greater Los Angeles area. Contact us at education@jpl.nasa.gov.

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Moon Phases

Students learn about the phases of the moon by acting them out.

Grades 1-6

Time 30-60 minutes

When Do Lunar Eclipses Happen?

Students use a paper plate to make a model that explains why lunar eclipses don’t occur during every full moon.

Grades 4-8

Time 30-60 minutes

Modeling Crustal Folds

Students use playdough to model how Earth’s crust is bent and folded by tectonic plates over geologic time.

Grades 6-12

Time 30-60 minutes

TAGS: Teachers, School, Remote School, Classroom, Instruction, K-12, STEAM, Science, Math, resources, lessons

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brandon Rodriguez, Educator Professional Development Specialist, NASA-JPL Education Office

Brandon Rodriguez is the educator professional development specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Outside of promoting STEM education, he enjoys reading philosophy, travel and speaking to your dog like it's a person.

Learn how pi is used by NASA and how many of its infinite digits have been calculated, then explore the science and engineering that makes the Pi Day Challenge possible.

Update: March 15, 2023 – The answers are here! Visit the NASA Pi Day Challenge page to view the illustrated answer keys for each problem.

This year marks the 10th installment of the NASA Pi Day Challenge. Celebrated on March 14, Pi Day is the annual holiday that pays tribute to the mathematical constant pi – the number that results from dividing any circle's circumference by its diameter.

Every year, Pi Day gives us a reason to celebrate the mathematical wonder that helps NASA explore the universe and enjoy our favorite sweet and savory pies. Students can join in the fun once again by using pi to explore Earth and space themselves in the NASA Pi Day Challenge.

Read on to learn more about the science behind this year's challenge and find out how students can put their math mettle to the test to solve real problems faced by NASA scientists and engineers as we explore Earth, Mars, asteroids, and beyond!

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How It Works
The Science Behind the 2023 NASA Pi Day Challenge
Teach It
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Infographic of all of the Pi in the Sky 10 graphics and problems

Visit the Pi in the Sky 10 lesson page to explore classroom resources and downloads for the 2023 NASA Pi Day Challenge. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image

The Perseverance rover approaches a lander on the surface of Mars. A small rocket flies toward an orbiter overhead while a Mars helicopter flies in the background. A partially illuminated Earth appears in the distnace.

This illustration shows a concept for multiple robots that would team up to ferry to Earth samples of rocks and soil being collected from the Martian surface by NASA's Mars Perseverance rover. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | › Full image and caption

An illustration shows the 18 hexagonal pieces that make up the primary mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope next to the primary mirror of the Hubble Space Telescope. The James Webb Mirror stands taller with a label that reads 6.5 meters in height, while the Hubble mirror is labled with a diameter of 2.4 meters. Two human figures are shown smaller than the Hubble mirror for comparison.

Image from animation comparing the relative sizes of James Webb's primary mirror to Hubble's primary mirror. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center . | › Full animation

An illustration shows the Psyche asteroid in a star field. The asteroid ranges in color from light grey to dark grey to brown and is covered with a rocky, cratered surface.

This illustration depicts the metal-rich asteroid Psyche, which is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU | + Full image and caption

A composite of four images of the sun, each being covered by progressively more of the sun. The final image shows the sun eclipsed by the moon with a ring of light showing behind the moon that is too small to cover the entire disk of the sun.

This image sequence shows an annular solar eclipse from May 2012. The bottom right frame illustrates the distinctive ring, or "annulus," of such eclipses. A similar eclipse will be visible from the South Pacific on May 10, 2013. Credits: Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons | + Expand image

How It Works

Dividing any circle’s circumference by its diameter gives you an answer of pi, which is usually rounded to 3.14. Because pi is an irrational number, its decimal representation goes on forever and never repeats. In 2022, mathematician Simon Plouffe discovered the formula to calculate any single digit of pi. In the same year, teams around the world used cloud computing technology to calculate pi to 100 trillion digits. But you might be surprised to learn that for space exploration, NASA uses far fewer digits of pi.

Here at NASA, we use pi to measure the area of telescope mirrors, determine the composition of asteroids, and calculate the volume of rock samples. But pi isn’t just used for exploring the cosmos. Since pi can be used to find the area or circumference of round objects and the volume or surface area of shapes like cylinders, cones, and spheres, it is useful in all sorts of ways. Transportation teams use pi when determining the size of new subway tunnels. Electricians can use pi when calculating the current or voltage passing through circuits. And you might even use pi to figure out how much fencing is needed around a circular school garden bed.

In the United States, March 14 can be written as 3.14, which is why that date was chosen for celebrating all things pi. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution officially designating March 14 as Pi Day and encouraging teachers and students to celebrate the day with activities that teach students about pi. And that's precisely what the NASA Pi Day Challenge is all about!

The Science Behind the 2023 NASA Pi Day Challenge

This 10th installment of the NASA Pi Day Challenge includes four noodle-nudgers that get students using pi to calculate the amount of rock sampled by the Perseverance Mars rover, the light-collecting power of the James Webb Space Telescope, the composition of asteroid (16) Psyche, and the type of solar eclipse we can expect in October.

Read on to learn more about the science and engineering behind each problem or click the link below to jump right into the challenge.

› Take the NASA Pi Day Challenge

› Educators, get the lesson here!

Tubular Tally

NASA’s Mars rover, Perseverance, was designed to collect rock samples that will eventually be brought to Earth by a future mission. Sending objects from Mars to Earth is very difficult and something we've never done before. To keep the rock cores pristine on the journey to Earth, the rover hermetically seals them inside a specially designed sample tube. Once the samples are brought to Earth, scientists will be able to study them more closely with equipment that is too large to make the trip to Mars. In Tubular Tally, students use pi to determine the volume of a rock sample collected in a single tube.

Rad Reflection

When NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990, scientists hoped that the telescope, with its large mirror and sensitivity to ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light, would unlock secrets of the universe from an orbit high above the atmosphere. Indeed, their hope became reality. Hubble’s discoveries, which are made possible in part by its mirror, rewrote astronomy textbooks. In 2022, the next great observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, began exploring the infrared universe with an even larger mirror from a location beyond the orbit of the Moon. In Rad Reflection, students use pi to gain a new understanding of our ability to peer deep into the cosmos by comparing the area of Hubble’s primary mirror with the one on Webb .

Metal Math

Orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, the asteroid (16) Psyche is of particular interest to scientists because its surface may be metallic. Earth and other terrestrial planets have metal cores, but they are buried deep inside the planets, so they are difficult to study. By sending a spacecraft to study Psyche up close, scientists hope to learn more about terrestrial planet cores and our solar system’s history. That's where NASA's Psyche comes in. The mission will use specialized tools to study Psyche's composition from orbit. Determining how much metal exists on the asteroid is one of the key objectives of the mission. In Metal Math, students will do their own investigation of the asteroid's makeup, using pi to calculate the approximate density of Psyche and compare that to the density of known terrestrial materials.

Eclipsing Enigma

On Oct. 14, 2023, a solar eclipse will be visible across North and South America, as the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, blocking the Sun's light from our perspective. Because Earth’s orbit around the Sun and the Moon’s orbit around Earth are not perfect circles, the distances between them change throughout their orbits. Depending on those distances, the Sun's disk area might be fully or only partially blocked during a solar eclipse. In Eclipsing Enigma, students get a sneak peek at what to expect in October by using pi to determine how much of the Sun’s disk will be eclipsed by the Moon and whether to expect a total or annular eclipse.

Teach It

Celebrate Pi Day by getting students thinking like NASA scientists and engineers to solve real-world problems in the NASA Pi Day Challenge. In addition to solving this year’s challenge, you can also dig into the more than 30 puzzlers from previous challenges available in our Pi Day collection. Completing the problem set and reading about other ways NASA uses pi is a great way for students to see the importance of the M in STEM.

Pi Day Resources

Pi in the Sky Lessons

Here's everything you need to bring the NASA Pi Day Challenge into the classroom.

Grades 4-12

Time Varies
NASA Pi Day Challenge

The entire NASA Pi Day Challenge collection can be found in one, handy slideshow for students.

Grades 4-12

Time Varies
How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need?

While you may have memorized more than 70,000 digits of pi, world record holders, a JPL engineer explains why you really only need a tiny fraction of that for most calculations.
18 Ways NASA Uses Pi

Whether it's sending spacecraft to other planets, driving rovers on Mars, finding out what planets are made of or how deep alien oceans are, pi takes us far at NASA. Find out how pi helps us explore space.
10 Ways to Celebrate Pi Day With NASA on March 14

Find out what makes pi so special, how it’s used to explore space, and how you can join the celebration with resources from NASA.
Infographic: Planet Pi

This poster shows some of the ways NASA scientists and engineers use the mathematical constant pi (3.14) and includes common pi formulas.
Downloads

Can't get enough pi? Download this year's NASA Pi Day Challenge graphics, including mobile phone and desktop backgrounds:
- Pi in the Sky 10 Poster (PDF, 11.3 MB)
- Perseverance Mars Rover Background: Phone | Desktop
- James Webb Space Telescope Background: Phone | Desktop
- Psyche Mission Background: Phone | Desktop
- 2023 Eclipse Background: Phone | Desktop
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: Notice and Wonder

Creative brainstorming through noticing and wondering encourages student participation, engagement, and students' understanding of the NASA Pi Day Challenge.

Subject Mathematics
Pi Day: What's Going 'Round

Tell us what you're up to this Pi Day and share your stories and photos on our showcase page.

Plus, join the conversation using the hashtag #NASAPiDayChallenge on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Related Lessons for Educators

Related Activities for Students

Recursos en español

18 Maneras en Que la NASA Usa Pi

Pi nos lleva lejos en la NASA. Estas son solo algunas de las formas en que pi nos ayuda a explorar el espacio.

Facts and Figures

Websites

Articles

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Completes Mars Sample Depot

Videos

Bringing Mars Rock Samples Back to Earth

Interactives

Eyes on Asteroids

TAGS: Pi Day, Pi, Math, NASA Pi Day Challenge, sun, moon, earth, eclipse, asteroid, psyche, sample return, mars, perseverance, jwst, webb, hubble, telescope, miri

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lyle Tavernier, Educational Technology Specialist, NASA-JPL Education Office

Lyle Tavernier is an educational technology specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When he’s not busy working in the areas of distance learning and instructional technology, you might find him running with his dog, cooking or planning his next trip.

As NASA retires its InSight Mars lander, here's a look at some of the biggest discoveries from the first mission designed to study the Red Planet's interior – plus, how to make connections to what students are learning now.

After more than four years listening to the “heartbeat” of Mars, NASA is saying goodbye to the InSight lander as the mission on the Red Planet comes to an end. On Dec. 21, 2022 scientists wrapped up the first-of-its-kind mission to study the interior of Mars as dust in the Martian atmosphere and on the spacecraft’s solar panels prevented the lander from generating enough power to continue.

Read on to learn how the mission worked, what it discovered, and how to bring the science and engineering of the mission into the classroom.

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How It Worked
What We Discovered
Why It's Important
Teach It
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How It Worked

The lander is showin on the surface of Mars with a cutaway view of the Martian interior and core below the spacecraft. SEIS and HP3 are resting on the surface in front of the spacecraft and attached to InSight with long leash-like teathers. RISE juts out like a speaker from the flat top of the spacecraft between its two wing-like solar panels.

The locations of InSight's three main science tools, SEIS, HP3, and RISE are labeled in this illustration of the lander on Mars. | + Expand image | › Full image and caption

The InSight lander was designed to reveal the processes that led to the formation of Mars – as well as Earth, the Moon, and all rocky worlds. This meant meeting two main science goals.

First, scientists wanted to understand how Mars formed and evolved. To do that, they needed to investigate the size and make-up of Mars’ core, the thickness and structure of its crust, the structure of the mantle layer, the warmth of the planet's interior, and the amount of heat flowing through the planet.

Second, to study tectonic activity on Mars, scientists needed to determine the power, frequency, and location of “marsquakes” as well as measure how often meteoroids impacted the Red Planet, creating seismic waves.

Engineers equipped InSight with three main science tools that would allow researchers to answer these questions about Mars.

SEIS, a seismometer like the ones used on Earth to record earthquakes, measured the seismic waves on Mars. These waves, which travel through the Red Planet, can tell scientists a lot about the areas they pass through. They even carry clues about whether it was a marsquake or meteorite impact that created the waves.

InSight captured these images of clouds drifting in the distance, visible just beyond the dome-like top of the SEIS instrument. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image | › Full image and caption

InSight's Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, or HP3, was an instrument designed to burrow 16 feet (five meters) into Mars to measure the temperature at different depths and monitor how heat flowed out toward the surface. However, the self-hammering probe, informally called the "mole," struggled to dig itself in due to the unexpected consistency of the top few inches of Mars regolith at the landing site. Using full-size models of the lander and probe, engineers recreated InSight’s environment here on Earth to see if they could find a solution to the issue. They tested solutions that would allow the probe to penetrate the surface, including pressing the scoop attached to InSight’s robotic arm against the probe. While the effort serves as a great real-world example of how engineers work through problems with distant spacecraft, ultimately, none of the solutions allowed the probe to dig past the surface when attempted on Mars.

In 2019, InSight mission scientist/engineer Troy Hudson shared the game plan for getting the mission's heat probe digging again on Mars. Ultimately, the team wasn't able to to get the "mole" working, but the effort is a great real-world example of how engineers work through problems with distant spacecraft. | Watch on YouTube

InSight’s third experiment, called RISE, used the spacecraft’s radio antennas to precisely measure the lander's position on the surface of Mars. The interior structure of Mars affects the planet’s motion, causing it to wobble. Measuring InSight’s position as the planet wobbled helped scientists gain a better understanding of the core and other layered structures that exist within the interior of Mars.

What We Discovered

A cutaway view of the interior of Mars shows a crust that is 0-25 mi (0-40 km) deep, an upper mantle that is 25-630 mi (40-1,015 km) deep; a transition zone that is 630-970 mi (1,015-1,560 km) deep, and a Core that is 970-2,105 mi (1,560-3,390 km) deep. Meteor impacts are shown as the sources of seismic activity. A separate inset shows InSight on the surface of a cutaway view of Mars' interior with lines representing Direct P, S waves extending from the upper mantle, through the curst, to SEIS on the surface.

Using its seismometer, InSight gained a deeper understanding of the interior layers of Mars, as detailed in this graphic. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image | › Full image and caption

InSight’s instruments enabled the mission science team to gain an understanding of not only the depth of Mars’ crust, mantle, and core, but also the composition of those features. They also learned just how active Mars really is.

The Structure of Mars

Working our way from the surface to the center of the planet, scientists found Mars’ crust was thinner than expected. Seismic waves detected by SEIS indicate that the crust is made up of three sub-layers, similar to Earth’s crust. The top-most layer of the crust is about six miles (10 kilometers) deep, while the denser layers of the crust, which contain more felsic, or iron-rich, material extend downward to about 25 miles (40 kilometers) below the surface. As seismic waves from a marsquake or a meteorite impact spread across the surface and through the interior of the planet, they can reflect off of underground layers, giving scientists views into the unseen materials below. Measuring how the waves change as a result of these reflections is how scientists unveiled the underground structure of Mars.

Like Earth, Mars has a lithosphere, a rigid layer made up of the crust and upper mantle. The Martian lithosphere extends about 310 miles (500 kilometers) below the surface before it transitions into the remaining mantle layer, which is relatively cool compared with Earth’s mantle. Mars’ mantle extends to 969 miles (1,560 kilometers) below the surface where it meets the planet’s core.

The InSight lander is shown on the surface of Mars, where circular lines radiate out from a central point. The interior of Mars is shown with lines flowing left and right from the same central point and extending from the crust into Mars’ mantle down to its large central core. In the background, a cutaway shows the interior of Earth with more interior layers and a smaller core. Full problem text is available on the lesson page.

In this lesson from the "Pi in the Sky" math challenge, students use measurements from InSight along with pi to calculate the density of Mars' core. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image | › Go to the lesson

Scientists measured the core of Mars and found it to be larger than expected, with a radius of 1,137 miles (1,830 kilometers). With this information, scientists were able to estimate the density of Mars' core, which turned out to be less dense than anticipated, meaning it contains lighter elements mixed in with iron. Scientists also confirmed that the planet contains a liquid core. While we know that Earth has a liquid outer core and solid inner core, scientists will need to further study the data returned from InSight to know if there is also a solid inner core on Mars.

As scientists continue to study the data returned from InSight, we could learn even more about how Mars formed, how its magnetic field developed, and what materials make up the core, which could ultimately help us better understand how Earth and other planets formed.

Marsquakes

InSight discovered that Mars is a very active planet. A total of 1,319 marsquakes were detected after the SEIS instrument was placed on the surface. The largest, which was estimated to be a magnitude 5, was detected in May of 2022.

Unlike Earth, where the crust is broken into large pieces called plates that continually shift around causing earthquakes, Mars’ crust is made up of one solid plate, somewhat like a shell. However, as the planet cools, the crust shrinks, creating breaks called faults. This breaking action is what causes marsquakes, and the seismic waves generated by the quakes are what help scientists figure out when and where the quakes occurred and how powerful they were.

A target symbol representing a marsquake appears on the other side of Mars from InSight. Pink and blue lines representing different waves extend around Mars from the left and right, respectively, of the epicenter. A green line extends from SEIS all the way around Mars and back to the instrument. An inset appears on top of SEIS that shows a recording of the wave measurements.

In this math problem from the "Pi in the Sky" series, students use pi to identify the timing and location of a hypothetical marsquake recorded by InSight. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech | + Expand image | › Go to the lesson

Nearly all of the strongest marsquakes detected by InSight came from a region known as Cerberus Fossae, a volcanic region that may have had lava flows within the past few million years. Volcanic activity, even without lava flowing on the surface, can be another way marsquakes occur. Images from orbiting spacecraft show boulders that have fallen from cliffs in this region, perhaps shaken loose by large marsquakes.

This seismogram shows the largest quake ever detected on another planet. Estimated at magnitude 5, this quake was discovered by InSight on May 4, 2022. Listen to a sonification of this seismogram. | + Expand image | › Full image and caption

Conversely, InSight didn't detect any quakes in the volcanic region known as Tharsis, the home of three of Mars’ largest volcanos that sit approximately one-third of the way around the planet from InSight. This doesn’t necessarily mean the area is not seismically active. Scientists think there may be quakes occurring, but the size of Mars’ liquid core creates what’s known as a shadow zone – an area into which seismic waves don’t pass – at InSight's location.

Meteorite Impacts

On Sept. 5, 2021, InSight detected the impacts of a meteoroid that entered the Martian atmosphere. The meteoroid exploded into at least three pieces that reached the surface and left behind craters. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passed over the impact sites to capture images of the three new craters and confirm their locations.

A direct overhead view of a light-gray-colored cratered surface is interrupted by three black splotches of increasing size from left to right. At the center of each dark scar is a royal blue splotch. The surface around the blue center looks as if it's been sprayed with a dark material that extends farther on the right side of each crater than on the left.

This image, captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows the craters (in blue) formed by a meteroid impact on Mars on Sept. 5, 2021. The impact was the first to be detected by InSight. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona | + Expand image | › Full image and caption

“After three years of waiting for an impact, those craters looked beautiful,” said Ingrid Daubar of Brown University, a Mars impacts specialist.

Mars’ thin atmosphere, which is less than 1% as dense as Earth’s, means meteoroids have a better chance of not disintegrating in the heat and pressure that builds up as they pass through the atmosphere to the planet’s surface. Despite this fact and Mars' proximity to the asteroid belt, the planet proved to be a challenging location to detect meteorite impacts because of "noise" in the data created by winds blowing on SEIS and seasonal changes in the atmosphere.

With the confirmation of the September 2021 impacts, scientists were able to identify a telltale seismic signature to these meteorite impacts. With this information in hand, they looked back through InSight's data and found three more impacts – one in 2020 and two in 2021. Scientists anticipate finding even more impacts in the existing data that might have been hidden by the noise in the data.

Three overhead images of a brown cratered surfaces with a bright blue-colored crater at the center. Surrounding the crater in each image is a splotch of different colored material sprayed out in all directions.

This collage shows three other meteoroid impacts on Mars that were detected by the seismometer on InSight and captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image credit: Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona | + Expand image | › Full image and caption

Meteorite impacts are an invaluable piece of understanding the planet’s surface. On a planet like Earth, wind, rain, snow and ice wear down surface features in a process known as weathering. Plate tectonics and active volcanism refresh Earth’s surface regularly. Mars’ surface is older and doesn't go through those same processes, so a record of past geologic events like meteorite impacts is more apparent on the planet's surface. By counting impact craters visible on Mars today, scientists can update their models and better estimate the number of impacts that occurred in the early solar system. This gives them an improved approximation of the age of the planet’s surface.

Learn how InSight detected the first seismic waves from a meteoroid on Mars and how the lander captured the sound of the space rock striking the surface. | Watch on YouTube

Why It's Important

Before InSight touched down, all Mars missions – landers, rovers, orbiters and flyby spacecraft – studied the surface and atmosphere of the planet. InSight was the first mission to study the deep interior of Mars.

Even with the InSight mission drawing to a close, the science and engineering of the mission will continue to inform our understanding of the Red Planet and our solar system for years as researchers further examine the data returned to Earth. Keep up to date with the latest findings from InSight scientists and engineers on the mission website.

Teach It

Explore these lessons in geology, physics, math, coding and engineering to connect student learning to the InSight mission and the real-world STEM that happens at NASA.

Educator Resources

Student Activities

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Exploring Mars Activities

Make a cardboard rover, design a Mars exploration video game, learn about Mars in a minute and explore more STEM activities for students.

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TAGS: K-12 Education, Classrooms, Teaching, Teachers, Resources, Teachable Moments, Mars, InSight, Missions, Spacecraft, Marsquakes

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lyle Tavernier, Educational Technology Specialist, NASA-JPL Education Office

Lyle Tavernier is an educational technology specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When he’s not busy working in the areas of distance learning and instructional technology, you might find him running with his dog, cooking or planning his next trip.

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