NASA planet builder, Valentine science ideas, Pheonix Mars landing video

[Nostromics Newsletter]

Nostromics Newsletter

Nostromics science gifts product news, educational resources & science tidbits

Nostromics Newsletter, 19 January 2011 - You are welcome to share this mail

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A NASA planet builder game

Extreme Planet Makeover is a NASA educational online game for simulating extrasolar planets, i.e. planets of stars other than the Sun (via Boing Boing). Use the controls at the bottom to set properties like planet size and age, distance from star and star type. Preset values for getting planets similar to Earth, Mars and Gliese 581 d are also available. The game interactively adjusts a simulated image of the resulting planet, which you can download by clicking "DOWNLOAD A PICTURE OF MY PLANET". Clicking the planet image displays information on whether such a world might be able to produce life.

The game is insightful for a couple of reasons. By changing planet properties you can see that there are limited combinations of properties that lead to life on a planet, i.e. winning the game. Also, appropriate properties are based on the only example of life we know, ours, which may or may not be representative.

Valentine science ideas

Is your significant other a science geek or nerd? Valentine's Day is approaching, and we have original science-themed gift ideas such as the Don't Blame Gravity Jr. Ringer T-Shirt, hooded sweatshirt and tote bag in the Science Valentine section of Nostromics Store. The design features "Don't blame gravity for falling in love" pink text with hearts above the equation of Newton's law of universal gravitation. 

An original blend of science concepts with funny references to love. Definitely not the usual Valentine gift, and not just for geeks.

More science gifts and products at Nostromics Store.

Phoenix Mars landing video

On May 25, 2008 the Phoenix unmanned NASA space probe landed on the North polar region of Mars. The engaging video Phoenix Mars Landing: Nerves and Joy tells how the landing was lived by engineers and scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Phoenix mission control center.

Using computer graphics animations and actual footage, the video tells what happened on Mars and at Phoenix mission control, from the last phases of Mars approach to the arrival of the first pictures from the surface of the planet. It shows the initial tense moments of atmospheric entry, in which onboard spacecraft computers had control and nothing could be done from Earth if something went wrong, and the joy of having a healthy scientific laboratory on the surface of another world.

-- Paolo Amoroso & Mauro Arpino (Nostromics), science educators - Milan, Italy

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Copyright (C) 2011 by Paolo Amoroso and Mauro Arpino