A Short Break from Science

Register to Vote

For the U.S.-based readers of this blog, voter registration deadlines are coming up fast. This year’s election is an important one no matter which candidates and issues you support. So, please register to vote if you have not done so. Some deadlines are coming up in the next few days.

When you DO register, make sure you spell everything correctly, right down to the name of the street or building you’re living in. If you have recently lost your home due to hurricanes and storms, there are preparations in your area for you to register,but you must do it soon. Go to the county clerk where you are living and ask them for help. (Read this interesting blog entry for more information:  http://www.groupnewsblog.net/2008/09/after-disaster-how-can-i-vote.html)

If you have been foreclosed and have moved from your home, you may register to vote where you are currently living. If you have been foreclosed and you STILL live in your home while trying to make arrangements to pay or move, you can still vote in your home’s precinct. Check with your county clerk, but it is NOT true that simply being foreclosed is a reason for anyone to purge you from the voting rolls.

If you are a student, check with your local secretary or voter registration office, but in most states, students can register to vote in the states where they go to school, provided they aren’t registered to vote elsewhere. You can fix this by registering in your school’s state, or by voting absentee in your home state.

If you think you are registered to vote, you should check your registration anyway with your local elections office — some states are purging their voter registration rolls, and many correctly registered voters are mistakenly being removed from the rolls. You may not find out about this until you go to vote. Check it now while there’s still time to correct any “mistakes.”

For information on registration, check the following sites:

An article on what the upcoming deadlines are

Rock the Vote

League of Women Voters

Voting and Elections at USA.gov

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission

Voting for Americans Living and Traveling Abroad

State by state Election Laws and Registration Deadlines

Guide to Voting Day issues

Election Protection: You Have the Right to Vote

Time is short… please make the most of your rights as a U.S. citizen to vote and make decisions for yourself and our country.

High-school Faculty Track Spacecraft Breakup

Wow!

I gotta say: this is a great time to be a student and a high-school teacher, especially in Brookline, Massachusetts! When NASA wants to study meteor showers or other debris (like breaking-apart spacecraft) as they burst though our atmosphere, they call on a group of high-school students and their talented science teachers in Brookline. These are the folks at the Clay Center Observatory at Dexter and Southfield Schools. Even better, sometimes faculty members that guide the Clay Center students get to go out and track spacecraft with NASA folks in a high-flying aircraft.

Jules Verne Re-entry into Earth's Atmosphere (Courtesy European Space Agency)

The airborne expedition went to watch the Jules Verne passengerless craft that had been docked to the International Space Station reenter Earth’s atmosphere.  To prepare for the study trip, NASA scientist Peter Jenniskens put together a group of 30 researchers at the space agency’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. After days of checks, calibrations, and test runs, the team, including Clay Center faculty members Ron Dantowitz and Marek Kozubal, along with undergraduate student David Sliski, climbed aboard two chase-plane aircraft to watch from high over the South Pacific during September 29th’s predawn encounter.

Operated by Dexter and Southfield Schools, the Clay Center for Science and Technology is a state-of-the-art astronomical observatory and learning center. By day, the observatory provides students with opportunities to enrich their education through hands-on experiences in astronomy and science. At night, its professional-grade telescopes are used for scientific research and serve as a valuable resource for astronomers around the world.

NASA Needs Student Designers

Lunar Exploration Tools and Tasks

Moon Tasks Contest Logo

NASA’s Solar System Missions Directorate is looking for a few good college students to submit designs for tools and instrument packages that might get used on future human-operated lunar rovers. So, they’re holding a Moontasks design contest.

The designs need to take into account all the factors lunar explorers will face:  navigating in darkness (at least part of the time), collecting dust and rock samples, establishing an outpost (and communicating their work to Earth), doing survey work, and survival issues. Designs and tools that can help astronauts deal with the pervasive effects of moon dust will be needed.

NASA plans to invite contest winners to the next set of lunar technology mission tests planned for the summer or fall of 2009. Paid internships also are planned as student awards. The contest continues NASA’s tradition of investing in the nation’s education programs and ties into the agency’s goal of strengthening NASA and America’s future workforce.

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