[meteorite-list] NASA Announces New Opportunities for Public Participation in Asteroid Grand Challenge

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 16:27:16 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201411220027.sAM0RGPx023449_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

November 21, 2014
     
NASA Announces New Opportunities for Public Participation in Asteroid Grand Challenge

Ten new projects are providing opportunities for the public to participate in
NASA's Asteroid Grand Challenge, which accelerates the agency's asteroid
initiative work through innovative partnerships and collaborations.

Through a Space Act Agreement since April, NASA's Asteroid Grand Challenge
partner SpaceGAMBIT developed ways to connect the Maker community with NASA's
asteroid work, including educational programs and tools to help astronomers
and citizen scientists. Makers are creative people with a drive to answer
questions and find new ways to do things.

The 10 new projects developed by SpaceGAMBIT were done in partnership with
Maui Makers - a group that provides the space and tools to make new things
on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

"SpaceGAMBIT and their partners have created an incredibly wide variety of
projects that speak to the strong interest in asteroids and passion of the
public to participate in space-related activities," said Jason Kessler,
program executive for the Asteroid Grand Challenge. "These projects will
inspire NASA audiences and the broader community to learn and get involved."

The 10 projects are:

 * Asteroid Hackathon: Engage astronomers, space geeks, coders, and
   interested citizens to help make Earth safer by re-imagining asteroid
   data. Read more about the Hackathon here:
   http://www.nasa.gov/content/asteroid-hackathon/

 * Asteroid Response Center: An interactive multimedia installation focusing
   on asteroid science and planetary protection. The presentation has been
   exhibited at Burning Man 2014 and World Maker Faire New York.

 * Ultrascope: An automated robotic observatory that can be laser-cut and 3D
   printed at home.

 * Black Rock Observatory: A tourist office/welcome center for the rest of
   the universe.

 * The Wayward Rock: An interactive, space-based adventure where it's up to
   you to save the world! Participants will learn about asteroids through
   extraterrestrial imaging data, discuss their solutions with like-minded
   students, and build a physical prototype of their own brilliant ideas if
   they have access to a local makerspace or fab lab.

 * Cosmosium: Browser game built to inspire and educate the general
   population using asteroid data from NASA.

 * Light Sight: An open-source system for the fabrication of extremely low
   cost parabolic mirrors for the use in amateur telescopes.

 * Central Spark: Software that simplifies, automates, and speeds up
   submission of astronomical sightings and discoveries to central object
   databases, social media feeds, and "Internet of Things" cloud
   services.

 * DIY Space Exploration: Create engaging content that will inspire the
   general public to support and participate in space exploration.
 * Curiosity Hacked Space Badges: Earn badges by exploring space-related and
   space technology concepts and skills.

"The dinosaurs never had their own space program, nor a maker movement -- and
look where it got them," said Alex Cureton-Griffiths of SpaceGAMBIT.
"Defending the Earth is a big job, and makers are stepping up to the plate to
help humanity take that one giant leap and survive as species."

NASA is counting on Maker communities to be a part of the solution to
asteroid threats. In addition to the 10 new projects with SpaceGAMBIT, NASA
is offering a variety of other opportunities for Makers around the country to
connect directly with NASA. This includes events like the World Maker Faire
and opportunities to solve tough problems through NASA Solve -- a program of
challenges, prize competitions, and crowdsourcing activities.

Through NASA's asteroid initiative, the agency seeks to enhance its ongoing
work in the identification and characterization of near-Earth objects for
further scientific investigation. This work includes locating potentially
hazardous asteroids and identifying those viable for redirection to a stable
lunar orbit for future exploration by astronauts. The Asteroid Grand
Challenge, one part of the asteroid initiative, expands the agency's efforts
beyond traditional boundaries and encourages partnerships and collaboration
with a variety of organizations.

For more detail about the 10 projects associated with the Asteroid Grand
Challenge, visit:

http://www.spacegambit.org/

For more information on the Asteroid Grand Challenge, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative

-end-

Sarah Ramsey
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1694
sarah.ramsey at nasa.gov
Received on Fri 21 Nov 2014 07:27:16 PM PST