ESA Teach with space online conference 2021
Introduction
Speaker: Monica Talevi, ESA Education
https://educationforms.esa.int/booklet.pdf
STEM Education: Today's challenges:
- Traditional science education is no longer effective today
- Society is confronted with new global challenges
- Economy is rapidly evolving
- Never has the clock been ticking so fast
The strengths of space in school education
- Modern myth
- Contemporary culture
- . . .
Yearly Challenges
- Astro Pi
- Climate Detectives
- Moon Camp
- European CanSat competition http://cansat.esa.int
- Mission X - Train like an astronaut (8-12 yo) http://www.stem.org.uk/missionx
ESERO: Space for education goes national. Also Finland/ Estonia
Paxi the alien and ESAkids (3-10 yo). The most read ESA weboage www.esa.int/kids
ESA Education team.
https://www.esa.int/Education/Teachers_Corner/Teach_with_space3
The Size of the solar system
Eight Planets. Asteroid Belt. Dwarf planets: Ceres, Pluto, Eris, Makemake, Haumea.
How big is the Sun (G2 main seq star -- a relatively average star)?
Material: Pen, paper, scissors. Uranus in the middle, Sun and Pluto opposite ends. All other in half. AU; Fractions: Mars: 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, Pluto: 1.
Climate from space
Speaker: Paul Fisher, ESA Climate Office
Taking the pulse of our planet. 54 parameters.
Sentinel 6 monitors sea level using laser @ 1mm accuracy.
https://climate.esa.int/en/educate/climate-for-schools/
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/CryoSat
https://cfs.climate.esa.int/index.html#/
https://climate.esa.int/en/educate/climate-for-schools/
Weather and climate in the classroom
Experiment: Soil, water, two temp meters, clingfilm (as atmosphere), lamp/ sun. Leave the other open, put both to strong lamp or sun.
https://www.esa.int/Education/Climate_detectives/Classroom_resources_for_Climate_Detectives
Greenhouse Effect: Mars, Earth, Venus.
Ocean Acidification: the effect that CO2 produced by burning candles has on the acidity of water. Expereiment: Water, 2 cups, pH. Pour 40 ml water into plasctic containers. Add 40 ml red gabbage ph indicator into both containers. Light the candles, put both in one container -- other is the control sample. Put the bigger cup on the candle plastic container. Light the candles again and repeat the experiment to have stronger effect. Note that the change is logarithmic. Carbonic acid as such does not exist, it decomposes into H + and HCO3- in aqueous solution, which is what happens in this experiment.
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2021/04/Using_satellites_to_understand_ocean_acidification
The ice is melting: Investigate the effects of melting ice. Will the sealevel change, will the temperature change, watching the glacier. Sea Ice vs Land Ice: Two cups, ice cubes, rocks. Check the overflow.
How can satellites measure sea level from above?
https://www.esa.int/Education/Teach_with_Earth
https://climatedetectives.esa.int
Do it Yourself 3D printed rover
Clean Space
Speaker: Antonio Caiazzo, ESA Clean Space office
Enormous amount of space debris (junk).
Earth Orbits: The main three orbits: Leo (Science, Wetaher, Internet, Earth Observation), Meo (Comminication, Geodetic Science, Navigation), Geo (Navigation, Communication, Meteorology). Protected region (Leo, Geo).
Have you ever been hit by space debris?
Cleaning space debris
Why is there junk in space?
- Collisions. Chain reactions of marbles (10, 15 and 100 marbles). (Domino Effect vs chain reaction, Kessler effect, butterfly effect)
- How big are space debris. Impact test with crisps, and analyzing the results. Drop the marble three times into same crisp. Count the number of different size of crisps.
Cleaning up Space
Grab that space junk. Net, harpoon, robotic arm. . .
- Design and discuss your debris grabbing tool.
- Reaching the debris - unfurling tentacles. Create the robotic arm: Paper, straws, legos (as debris), tape, elastic band.
- Grabbing the debris - sticky surfaces. Glue, magnetic (double sided, velcro) tape
- Design and build your own device
Coming back to Earth safely
- Satellite slowdown. Parachute.
- The satellite backpack challenge. Spinning rotors: Scissors, sugar paper, spinners, cling film, stop watch.
Space exploration activities
The science of Space Movies
EO Browser - Do it Yourself Earth Observation
The blue marble. First EO satellites in late 1970s. Different EM spectra. Six Sentinel satellites.
Advanced search: Max cloud coverage. Timelapse! NDVI download as csv.
https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/eo-browser/
http://leoworks.terrasigna.com/
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2017/01/ESA_s_Earth_Observation_Programmes_an_introduction
Virtual tour of ESTEC facilities
Speaker: Robert Willemsen
Largest satellite test center in Europe etc. . .
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESTEC
3d printing in space. Titanium powder, laser will melt. Hard plastic printer. 3d bioprinting skin, bones, organs. 3d printing bricks from moondust (volcanic material). 3d printing a lunar base (it will take 3 months to build).
Controlling robots on Earth from ISS (0g) using force joystick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAi2bR6hwHg
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2018/09/Horizons_science_robotics
Space exploration and sustainability
Speaker: Tim Peake, ESA Astronaut https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSm5k-gQdnA
Tea Bag balloon
Building stuff for space - Spacecraft Materials kit & Bionic Hand
How does space benefit society?
Speaker: Amanda Regan, ESA Phi Lab
Artificial Intelligence
Understanding our Earth from Space with Easy-to-Use Augmented Reality Apps
Experimenting with sensors made easy
Exoplanets in a box
Robotics: Mission to Mars
Speaker: Jorge Vago, ESA’s ExoMars Project Scientist
Seeing the invisible
Landing on the moon
Plants on Mars
Extreme Environments on Earth
Speaker: Stijn Thoole, previous ESA-sponsored research doctor at Concordia Station, Antarctica
