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How Many Decimals of Pi Do We Really Need?

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

Oct. 24, 2022

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A Lesson for Every Day of the School Year

With 180 lessons in our online catalog, you can explore Earth and space with us all year long. We show you how with this handy NASA-JPL school year calendar.

Aug. 24, 2022

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Scientist on a Mission

Catherine Elder's office is a small, cavernous space decorated with pictures of the Moon and other distant worlds she studies as a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Elder has been interested in space science since she was young, but she didn't always imagine she'd be working at one of the few places that builds robotic spacecraft designed to venture to mysterious worlds. A doctorate in planetary science – the study of the evolution of planets and other bodies in space – first brought her to JPL five years ago for research into the geologic history of the Moon. She planned to eventually become a professor, but a sort of gravitational pull has kept her at the laboratory, where in addition to lunar science, she's now involved in projects studying asteroids, Jupiter's moon Europa and future missions. We met up with her earlier this year to talk about her journey, how a program at JPL helped set her career in motion and how she's paying it forward as a mentor to interns.

June 16, 2020

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NASA's 9 Most Teachable Moments This Decade and Beyond

Whether discovering something about our own planet or phenomena billions of miles away, NASA missions and scientists unveiled a vast universe of mysteries this past decade. And with each daring landing, visit to a new world and journey into the unknown came new opportunities to inspire the next generation of explorers. Read on for a look at some of NASA's most teachable moments of the decade from missions studying Earth, the solar system and beyond. Plus, find out what's next in space exploration and how to continue engaging students into the 2020s with related lessons, activities and resources.

Dec. 30, 2019

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NASA Scientist for a Day Essay Contest Goes Far Out in 2020

NASA's Scientist for a Day Essay Contest is back for its 15th year, inviting students in grades 5 through 12 to investigate three distant worlds and write an essay about one they would want to explore further.

Dec. 5, 2019

Teachable Moment .

NASA Rocket Science? It's Easy As Pi

Discover the science behind the 2019 NASA Pi Day Challenge and find resources for bringing the challenge into the classroom.

Teachable Moment .

Then There Were Two: Voyager 2 Reaches Interstellar Space

Find out how the twin Voyager spacecraft took advantage of a rare planetary alignment to embark on a journey no spacecraft had before – or has since.

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Getting New Perspectives on a Potential Ocean World

There’s no telling what the first spacecraft to land on Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa could encounter – but this summer, JPL intern Maya Yanez is trying to find out. As part of a team designing the potential Europa Lander, a mission concept that would explore the Jovian moon to search for biosignatures of past or present life, Yanez is combing through images, models, analogs, anything she can find to characterize a spot that’s “less than a quarter of a pixel on the highest-resolution image we have of Europa.” We caught up with Yanez, an undergraduate student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, to find out what inspired her to get involved in space exploration and ask about her career ambition to discover alien life.

Aug. 16, 2018

Teachable Moment .

The Voyagers Are Still Exploring 40 Years Later

The twin spacecraft launched in 1977 on an epic journey through the solar system and beyond offer lessons in what it takes to travel farther than ever before.

Teachable Moment .

Cruising to Jupiter: A Powerful Math Lesson

Find out how NASA’s Juno mission at Jupiter earned the title of most distant solar-powered spacecraft and how it relates to exponents.