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Teachable Moment .

A Prime Year for NASA's Pi Day Challenge

Learn how pi is used by NASA and how many of its infinite digits have been calculated, then explore the science and engineering behind the 2024 Pi Day Challenge.

Teachable Moment .

The NASA Cat Video Explained

Find out how the now famous video beamed from space, showing a cat chasing a laser, marked a milestone for space exploration, and find resources to engage students in related STEM learning.

Teachable Moment .

Asteroid Mission Aims to Explore Mysteries of Earth's Core

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.

News .

Spend the School Year With NASA-JPL

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.

Aug. 17, 2023

Teachable Moment .

10 Years of NASA's Pi Day Challenge

Learn how pi is used by NASA and how many of its infinite digits have been calculated, then explore the science and engineering inside the 2023 Pi Day Challenge.

News .

JPL Interns Are Working From Home While 'Going the Distance' for Space Exploration

Most years, summertime at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory arrives with an influx of more than 800 interns, raring to play a hands-on role in exploring Earth and space with robotic spacecraft.

July 23, 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

News .

Practice Makes Perfect for Former Intern Turned Spacecraft 'Trainer'

Marleen Sundgaard laughs when she recalls the details of one of her two internships at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory before she was eventually hired in 2016. "I counted rocks for an entire summer," she says. As one of the interns tasked with scouting out the landing site for the Phoenix mission to Mars, it was a tedious but important task – one that helped the spacecraft land safely on the Red Planet. These days, as the testbed lead for the InSight Mars lander and a future mission designed to orbit a metal asteroid, she's still making sure that spacecraft "stick their landings." But instead of counting rocks, she's working as a trainer of sorts for spacecraft, testing and practicing their every move, looking for issues that might arise and sometimes troubleshooting in a simulated environment millions of miles away from the real thing. Returning intern Evan Kramer caught up with Sundgaard to learn more about her work as a JPL testbed engineer and how she hopes to set foot on Mars one day.

Oct. 29, 2019