Synopsis:
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin sat down with The Futures Channel to talk to teachers and students about the vision for space exploration--why he thinks it’s important, and what students need to bring to the table if they want to participate.
Running time 4:34 minutes.
Critical Thinking:
Whether you are provisioning a sailing ship for a voyage to the New World, planning the exploration of the solar system, or figuring out how to get ready for your own future in a changing world, critical thinking skills can help you prepare for the unknown.
Ask questions
1. What are my objectives?
2. How can I find out more?
3. What can I extrapolate based on my own or others’ past experiences?
4. What choices do I have right now?
Attack the problem
1. What are my objectives? - The exploration and commercialization of the spaces and solid bodies beyond Earth’s atmosphere have many purposes, ranging from purely scientific knowledge to clean energy production to the mining of asteroids. Learn more here:
Links
NASA/JPL—The Basics of Space Flight
HowStuffWorks.com—How Asteroid Mining Will Work
Space.com—Bright Future for Solar Power Satellites
2. How can I find out more? - Before a human being ever journeyed above the atmosphere, scientists used every means at their disposal to collect information about what would be encountered there; since that time NASA spacecraft have ranged throughout the solar system. As fascinating as the pictures those craft have sent back to us are, they are just a small fraction of the information that’s been collected. Find out more here:
Links
NASA/JPL Mars Exploration Rover Mission
NASA/JPL—Your First Look Inside a Comet
3. What can I extrapolate based on my own or others’ past experiences? - An outpost on the Moon or Mars would not be the first time human beings have lived in near-isolation in an extremely inhospitable environment—what have we learned from our explorations into the crushing pressures of the deep ocean, or the numbing temperatures of Antarctica? How do we make the technology of survival reliable in such conditions? What do people need to be happy and productive? Of what value have these very difficult and rather expensive expeditions been? Get some answers here:
Links
Antarctic Connection—Science in Antarctica
Monterey Bay Aquarium—Exploring Monterey Canyon
NASA/JSC—Advanced Life Support
4. What choices do I have right now? - There are limitless possibilities for the exploration of space, but finite resources. What are NASA’s top priorities, and how has NASA chosen to organize its personnel and resources in service of those priorities? What strategic decisions does NASA face right now, and who is involved in making those decisions? Explore these topics here:
Links
Images:
Click on the image for a larger version
Flash 7 or greater is required.
Download it.
