The Star Trek universe of television shows, movies, games, and books has captivated generations with its stories illustrating how people can bring out the best in their selves through the challenge of space exploration.  Gene Roddenberry believed that humanity (and like-minded species) would one day unite behind a common cause and purpose – equality of opportunity and liberty for all under the rule of law, unbounded by poverty, starvation, or physical need.  This was the core of his United Federation of Planets.

The CASIS education team traveled to San Antonio, Texas to attend the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Conference from April 10–14, 2013. The conference attracted educators from all over the nation, providing professional development through workshops and presentations on the latest in science education initiatives, such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Attendees also had the opportunity to network with colleagues from both the U.S. and other countries. 

On March 17, we had the distinct opportunity to introduce a space panel outlining opportunities in microgravity post shuttle at Engadget Expand in San Francisco. There is a competition currently in place where CASIS and MassChallenge are partnering to fund and send a company’s research to the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory. Funded opportunities to build your brand beyond our horizons don’t come along very often, so CASIS and MassChallenge fully expect research proposals to fly in, allowing researchers to take their research to the next level, providing an edge on their competition.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently played host to a unique competition for high school students in the United States and Europe.  After months of simulations on the ground and preliminary trials with mockups on air-bearing floors, the finalists in this competition—the Zero Robotics Challenge—saw their control algorithms tested in real-time with real satellites that can move on their own inside the International Space Station.  MIT created Zero Robotics in 2009 to challenge young minds with healthy competition and to cultivate problem-solving skills by connecting students with real space research at no cost to the participants.

On Sunday afternoon, a SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down off the California coast with almost 2000 pounds of cargo—including blood and urine samples and the habitats from the YouTube Space Lab student science experiments. The journey completed a historic mission in which SpaceX became the first US company to provide commercial cargo services to and from the ISS. It also began a new era of Station utilization.

by Emily White, CASIS Science Communications Writer

Robots in space got a lot of attention over the past few weeks—and for good reason. Aboard the International Space Station, researchers are testing robots to perform a variety of tasks, some of them beyond human capability, some mimicking human capability, and some serving to teach our youth about science and engineering.