NASA Invites Students to Send Experiments to the Edge of Space

/PRNewswire/ -- NASA is inviting student teams to design and build experiments the agency will fly into the stratosphere, a near-space environment, more than 100,000 feet above the Earth.

NASA's second annual Balloonsat High-Altitude Flight competition is open to student teams in ninth to 12th grades from the United States and its territories. Each team of four or more students must submit an experiment proposal to NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland by Feb. 11. Student teams may propose experiments on a wide range of topics, from bacteria studies to weather observations.

A panel of NASA engineers and scientists will evaluate the submissions based on mission objectives, technical planning and team organization. The top eight proposals will be announced on March 4.

The top four teams will receive up to $1,000 to develop their flight experiments and travel to Glenn Research Center May 18-20. During their visit, they will have an opportunity to tour the center, watch as NASA helium weather balloons carry their experiments to the edge of space, recover the experiments and present their results at Glenn's Balloonsat Symposium.

The other four teams also will receive up to $1,000 to develop their flight experiments and will participate via the Internet when NASA scientists and engineers launch and recover their payloads during the week of May 23.

For more Balloonsat information, registration forms and project ideas, visit:

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/balloonsat

This competition and similar educational programs help NASA attract and retain students in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. These disciplines are critical to the agency's future programs and missions.

The Balloonsat High-Altitude Flight competition is sponsored by Glenn's Educational Programs Office and is funded by the Teaching From Space (TFS) Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. For information about the TFS education program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education/tfs

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NASA awards Emory, MCG $7.6 million for space radiation research

Researchers from Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute and the Medical College of Georgia are launching a new cancer research initiative – literally.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded a team of investigators from both institutions $7.6 million over five years to study how a component of space radiation may induce lung cancer.

The award establishes a NASA Specialized Center of Research (NSCOR), consisting of a team of scientists with complementary skills who work closely together to solve a set of research questions. Ya Wang, PhD, professor of radiation oncology at Emory University School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute, is director of the NSCOR at Emory.

Interplanetary space travel could expose astronauts to conditions where they are chronically exposed to types of radiation not normally encountered on earth. One of these is high energy charged particles (HZE), which results in complex damage to DNA and a broader stress response by the affected cells and tissues.

There is no epidemiological data for human exposure to HZE particles, although some estimates have been made studying uranium miners and Japanese atomic bomb survivors, says Wang.

Animal experiments show that HZE particle exposure induces more tumors than other forms of radiation such as X-rays or gamma rays. Because it is a leading form of cancer, lung cancer can be expected to be prominent among increased risks from radiation even though astronauts do not smoke. However, the risk for astronauts remains unclear because the dose of HZE astronauts are expected to receive is very low, Wang says.

The Emory-MCG researchers will probe whether the broader stress response induced by HZE particles amplifies cancer risk. Investigators will collaborate with physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory to gather information on HZE’s effects. Individual projects include the study of how cells repair DNA damage induced by HZE particles, how HZE particles generate oxidative stress, and how they trigger regulatory changes in DNA known as methylation.

Participating faculty include:

Ya Wang, PhD, professor of radiation oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory – director of NSCOR
Paul Doetsch, PhD, professor of radiation oncology and biochemistry, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory – associate director of NSCOR
William Dynan, PhD, professor, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics at the Medical College of Georgia – associate director of NSCOR
Paula Vertino, PhD, professor of radiation oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory
Huichen Wang, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory
Shi-Yong Sun, PhD, associate professor of hematology and medical oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory
Gregg Orloff, PhD, assistant professor of hematology and medical oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory
“The information generated by this project will be critical for estimating risks and establishing countermeasures for cancers associated with long term space travel. In addition, new insights into cancer resulting from all types of radiation exposure, including those found on earth, are likely to emerge from this project,” Dr. Doetsch says.

Dr. Dynan adds, “We plan to visualize the response to HZE particle radiation in real time using nanomedicine tools and approaches. A focus on leading-edge technology was a distinguishing feature of our application.”

Walter Curran, MD, executive director of Winship and chairman of Emory’s Department of Radiation Oncology, says “the center will place Emory and the State of Georgia squarely on the map as a place of international importance within the handful of NSCORs in the world dedicated to the study of cancer and space radiation exposure.”

New NSCOR awards are also being made to Duke University and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center on the topic of space radiation-induced lung cancer.

Additional information is available on the NASA Space Radiation web site.


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Student Engineers - NASA and NIA Want Your Ideas

/PRNewswire/ -- University engineering students could play a part in designing a future space project for NASA as part of a competition sponsored by NASA and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA).

The 2011 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage or RASC-AL contest is aimed at undergraduate and graduate engineering students.

"We've been holding this competition for almost a decade now and we have seen some amazing ideas from the students," said Pat Troutman, senior systems engineer at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. "The students say they get something out of it too. They like that they get a chance to apply classroom knowledge to actual aerospace challenges."

This year students can choose one of four themes for their project: designs for a cost-effective 2030 mission to a near-Earth object; approaches to reduce the risk of orbital debris from space junk; technology-enabled human Mars missions; and novel concepts to engage the general public in human exploration missions. Student teams submit a summary of and an outreach plan for their proposed projects by February 4, 2011.

The RASC-AL steering committee made up of NASA and industry experts will evaluate proposals and select as many as 10 undergraduate and five graduate teams to compete against each other at a forum next June in Florida.

"Each year, the RASC-AL competition engages some of the best engineering talent from across the nation," said Dr. Robert Lindberg, NIA president and executive director. "The student teams are challenged to think beyond the classroom and the textbook, and explore the very limits of human creativity using the engineering skills they've mastered in school."

Teams selected submit a written report, prepare a poster and give an oral presentation at the RASC-AL forum. The June event gives faculty and students the chance to meet with NASA and industry experts, introduce concepts and data from the competition into NASA exploration program planning, develop relationships that could lead to participation in other NASA student research programs and show the benefits of NASA-university-industry cooperation.

For more information about the 2011 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage competition, please go to: http://www.nianet.org/rascal

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NASA and Texas Instruments Use Human Spaceflight to Bring Math and Science Topics Into High School Classrooms

/PRNewswire/ -- NASA and Texas Instruments are using the theme of human space exploration to develop digital libraries of math and science problems for high school students. The goal is to bring real-world topics in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, into classrooms to spark students' excitement and interest in these critical career fields.

The collaboration will produce two digital libraries. One, called Exploring Space Through Math: Applications in High School Mathematics, will provide problems based on NASA data that are set in the context of space exploration. The project material will cover almost the entire high school math curriculum, with applications in Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and Pre-Calculus.

The other digital library, named Science at Work: Exploring Space with NASA-AP, will contain questions for Advanced Placement classes. This program seeks to develop and test problems in calculus, statistics, physics, chemistry and biology.

"As students solve real problems NASA faces in space exploration, they will practice during high school and college the skills necessary to pursue a career in a STEM field," said Charles Lloyd, NASA's lead for the effort and program manager for Human Research Program Education and Outreach at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "NASA and Texas Instruments are passionate about motivating the next generation's interest in science and math subjects and equipping these students to take us farther into space and improve our lives here on Earth."

The libraries of questions will use NASA applications and data while incorporating Texas Instruments' math learning technology. Each problem includes student and teacher editions to help the teacher link content to higher concepts.

"Our goal is to make STEM subjects more fun and interactive," said Werner Garciano, director of Professional Development for Texas Instruments' Education Technology. "Working with NASA is a great opportunity to bring exciting, real-world math experiences into the classroom. Our collaboration will expand the digital content and professional development that Texas Instruments provides teachers, and will help engage students more deeply in math. Together, we believe these activities will break through to students who have never considered a STEM career path."

Both projects will be available in the fall of 2010 on NASA's Web site. With this program, NASA continues its investment in engaging and retaining students in STEM disciplines critical to the agency's future engineering, scientific, and technical missions. For more information about NASA's education programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education

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