Top 10 of the greatest Space Technology in this century: 1. The International Space Station! 2. The Cassini-Huy-gens Probe. Sent to Saturn in 2004 a probe was dropped into Saturn's moon Titan. Cassini is still sending important information about Titan and many other moons, plus Saturn itself. Seen a good picture of Saturn lately? That's because of Cassini! 3. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Launched in 2005 this MRO is sending information to NASA about the history of water on the planet. It is studying geography, like mountains and valley's as well to understand more about how this planet was formed. It is also sending valuable information about Martian weather. 4. Hubble Telescope. Launched into orbit in 1990, the Hubble truly is one of the greatest space instruments in the history of humanity. Using Hubble, we've discovered dark energy, figured out the identities of quasars, gotten a more accurate date for the origin of the universe, and spotted countless galaxies at every stage of their life cycles. 5. Kepler Spacecraft. This low-cost orbital telescope was launched in 2009 with the sole purpose of locating exoplanets in the Milky Way galaxy. Since that time, it has discovered, according to NASA, "2,740 potential planets orbiting 2,036 stars." 6. WISE and NeoWISE Probe. First, WISE did extensive surveys of the galaxy in human history, discovering everything from brown dwarf stars (which are often candidates for planets) to stellar nurseries. Next a follow-up mission called NeoWISE, the telescope also surveyed the solar system and the volume of space near Earth for asteroids and comets. This information has been turned into maps so astronomers can map where large objects are and how close they can come to Earth. 7. Curiosity. The Curiosity rover landed on Mars in 2012, aided in its descent by a breakthrough landing technology dubbed a sky crane. Curiosity, also called the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), has one mission: to study the habitability of Mars. 8. Spirit and Opportunity Rovers. Spirit and Opportunity are robotic rovers that traversed the Martian surface, lasting many years longer than the mission was expected to. They landed in 2004, and Opportunity is still active, wandering around Martian craters and discovering more about Martian geography and rock formations. The twin robots were called geologists because their main mission was to study rocks and soils up close, sending thousands of images back home to give the best views yet from the surface of a planet we'd only seen up close a few times before. 9. SELENE Lunar Orbiter. The Japanese space program, JAXA, launched this lunar satellite in 2007. It was nicknamed Kaguya, for the Japanese moon princess, and its mission was to study the geology and magnetic field of the Moon. It also offered us the most detailed, precise maps of the lunar surface in history. 10. SpaceX's Falcon 9 Rocket. The first privately-owned space vessel to help a craft (the Dragon) rendezvous with the International Space Station, this product of Elon Musk's entrepreneurial dreams has stepped into the place that NASA's Space Shuttles once occupied. Just think! Someone needs to go through all this data that is coming back to us about space. That means future jobs...what do you want to do when you grow up? I think the possibilities are going to be amazing for your generation. If I were you, I would start preparing now! Science Classes: Period 1: Working on Astronomical Units Worksheet. This is due-Dec. 8th. Period 2: Working on Gravity and Orbits Lab. All experiments are expected to be completed-Dec. 8th. Period 3: Clay Planet Models Lab Report is due today: Dec. 7th Social StudiesMr. Scheerer's class: Working on a Memorium for Alexander the Great. Students have studied Alexander the Great for about a week and will need to pull information out of their texts that they have read as well as express their opinion about the man; was he a good guy, or a bad guy?
Mrs. Taylor's class: We are studying the differences between the city-states of Athens and Sparta. The two governments were as different as night and day in many ways.
11 Comments
|
Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |