The Zadko telescope: A resource for science education enrichment

This paper describes plans for employing a new fully robotic optical telescope in Western Australia, the Zadko telescope, for evaluating education-outreach. A key feature of the telescope is the optimized observation-scheduling program, developed by our French collaborators who operate the TAROT robotic telescope network. It provides a simple interface for requesting observation time remotely, and has the potential for school students to participate in real astronomical research. The University of Western Australia and Curtin University are commencing a study for evaluating changes in student perceptions of science by participation in our astronomy research. Other areas of interest include broadening the program to include access of students from European countries, and exploring how remote access astronomy can be used to encourage awareness between different cultures.     

A reappraisal of the habitability of planets around M dwarf stars

Stable, hydrogen-burning, M dwarf stars make up about 75% of all stars in the Galaxy. They are extremely long-lived, and because they are much smaller in mass than the Sun (between 0.5 and 0.08 M(Sun)), their temperature and stellar luminosity are low and peaked in the red. We have re-examined what is known at present about the potential for a terrestrial planet forming within, or migrating into, the classic liquid-surface-water habitable zone close to an M dwarf star. Observations of protoplanetary disks suggest that planet-building materials are common around M dwarfs, but N-body simulations differ in their estimations of the likelihood of potentially habitable, wet planets that reside within their habitable zones, which are only about one-fifth to 1/50th of the width of that for a G star. Particularly in light of the claimed detection of the planets with masses as small as 5.5 and 7.5 M(Earth) orbiting M stars, there seems no reason to exclude the possibility of terrestrial planets. Tidally locked synchronous rotation within the narrow habitable zone does not necessarily lead to atmospheric collapse, and active stellar flaring may not be as much of an evolutionarily disadvantageous factor as has previously been supposed. We conclude that M dwarf stars may indeed be viable hosts for planets on which the origin and evolution of life can occur. A number of planetary processes such as cessation of geothermal activity or thermal and nonthermal atmospheric loss processes may limit the duration of planetary habitability to periods far shorter than the extreme lifetime of the M dwarf star. Nevertheless, it makes sense to include M dwarf stars in programs that seek to find habitable worlds and evidence of life. This paper presents the summary conclusions of an interdisciplinary workshop (http://mstars.seti.org) sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Institute and convened at the SETI Institute.     

A multi-disciplinary plan for easier access, management, and analysis of science data

NASA's COST LESS Team is pursuing strategies to reduce the cost and complexity of planning and executing space missions. The team's technical goal is to reverse the trend of constructing unique solutions for similar problems. To this end, the team is exploring ways to represent mission functionality in terms of building blocks and is discovering approaches that could accommodate the same building blocks for seemingly disparate activities, such as organizing processed telemetry data, controlling onboard experiments, searching science archives, reducing and presenting information to science users, and supporting educational outreach. Reusable object technology (UOT), a research undertaking by the authors, is showing promise in recognizing similarities in functions which were previously viewed as unique because they appeared in different programs or mission phases. Since UOT is aimed at being implementation independent (i.e. the function performed could be accomplished manually, by an automated process, by a specialized instrument, etc.), no premature judgment for automation or autonomy need be made. In this paper, the authors attempt to strike a balance between theory and reality as they describe UOT, including its beginnings, its underpinning, its utility, and its potential for achieving substantive reductions in cost and complexity for the Agency's space programs. The authors discuss their collaboration with the Center for EUV Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley to reduce the cost and complexity of science investigations. Their multi-disciplinary plan incorporates both UOT and a complementary technology introduced in this paper, called interactive archives.     

Distributing space weather monitoring instruments and educational materials worldwide for IHY 2007: The AWESOME and SID project

The International Heliophysical Year (IHY) aims to advance our understanding of the fundamental processes that govern the Sun, Earth, and heliosphere. The IHY Education and Outreach Program is dedicated to inspiring the next generation of space and Earth scientists as well as spreading the knowledge, beauty, and relevance of our solar system to the people of the world. In our Space Weather Monitor project we deploy a global network of sensors to high schools and universities to provide quantitative diagnostics of solar-induced ionospheric disturbances, thunderstorm intensity, and magnetospheric activity. We bring real scientific instruments and data in a cost-effective way to students throughout the world. Instruments meet the objectives of being sensitive enough to produce research-quality data, yet inexpensive enough for placement in high schools and universities. The instruments and data have been shown to be appropriate to, and usable by, high school age and early university students. Data contributed to the Stanford data center is openly shared and partnerships between groups in different nations develop naturally. Students and teachers have direct access to scientific expertise.     

Further analyses of human kidney cell populations separated on the Space Shuttle.

Cultured human embryonic kidney cells were separated into electrophoretic subpopulations in laboratory experiments and in two separation experiments on the STS-8 (Challenger) Space Shuttle flight using the mid-deck Continuous Flow Electrophoretic Separator (CFES). Populations of cells from each fraction were cultured for the lifetime of the cells, and supernatant medium was withdrawn and replaced at 4-day intervals. Withdrawn medium was frozen at -120 degrees C for subsequent analysis. Enzyme assays, antibodies and gel electrophoresis were used as analytical tools for the detection and quantitation of plasminogen activators in these samples. These assays of frozen culture supernatant fluids confirmed the electrophoretic separation of plasminogen-activator producing cells from non-producing cells, the isolation of cells capable of sustained production, and the separation of cells that produce different plasminogen activators from one another.