Urgent Opportunity: NASA Mission to Mercury – Classes Across America Can Participate Live

On September 29, NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft will fly by the planet Mercury at 5:55 pm EDT. It is a historic mission to the last of the eight planets in the solar system that has not been fully seen.

MESSENGER is changing that. The event, and the 2 days of analysis of the science data following the event, will be covered LIVE from MISSION CONTROL and the Science Operation Center by 7 MESSENGER Fellows (some of the best science educators in the nation) on Twitter and Facebook. We’ll be working hand-in-hand with mission scientists. We’ll be tweeting and facebooking over the three days, starting Sept 29, answering questions from classes across America, and engaging them in live conversations about the excitement and the experiences of the researchers as the data streams back to Earth. BE PART OF THE ADVENTURE!!!!

We have set up a special Blog on the Universe (BotU) post that provides a one-stop-shop to all the official web sites; and background info on the event for your CLASS, your SCHOOL, and your DISTRICT to ACTIVELY participate. It’s an opportunity for your students to get a remarkable behind-the-scenes look at REAL science and engineering in this moment of history.

At the post: an overview of the opportunity; the educational goals; the schedule of events; bios and links to twitter/facebook for all us “Voices of Mission Control”; how to connect and participate (it’s easy!); and MOST importantly, ideas for lessons leading up to and after the Mercury flyby, and full details of the specific questions that scientists are going to be asking through the eyes (the instruments) of the MESSENGER spacecraft.

For two days following the flyby, we’ll be reporting live on what the scientists are finding in the data pouring back to Earth through NASA’s Deep Space Network. And we INVITE you to jump into the conversation through the magic of Web 2.0! Students can get invested in the questions being posed by the scientists BEFORE the spacecraft arrives, and get involved in the live conversation regarding what the scientists are finding in the preliminary data in the 2 days FOLLOWING the flyby.  We’re inviting your students to slip on the shoes of a scientist that is eagerly waiting for MESSENGER – a robotic emissary of the human race – to arrive at another world.  Pretty cool!

The link to the Special Post at BotU:  http://bit.ly/3kDn7b

Please spread the word and the link to the Blog Post to colleagues. We think it’s a wonderful opportunity to help inspire our next generation of scientists and engineers.

Best wishes!