ART+SCIENCE 2019

Journey to the Stars NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory It’s rather cheesy to begin this blog with my sentimental and stunned reaction to our recent visit to JPL, but my experience to the NASA site truly left me star-struck.  I began this journey in the early morning carrying with me the anticipation and excitement of what hidden knowledge I may learn from the innovative professionals. Our first stop in our tour was the “Clean Room” where the entirety of the space was decorated in white and all scientists who were working in the space wore protective equipment.  Looking at the space, I noticed how attentive the crew was to maintain minimal exposure of outside pathogens and bacteria. This is evidenced by the fact that NASA keeps a constant temperature and humidity to the most optimal temperature, so that it may not affect their construction of future space-exploring rovers.  Thus, this work-space truly lives up to its expectations as the top facility in the world ...

   Nasa JPL Trip    Blog #6      Makayla Gallimore  Wow this trip was so cool!I am so beyond grateful that I got the opportunity to go to NASA JPL!!! AHHH! I could not chose one thing to talk about so I will discuss the various exhibits at JPL that sparked my interest. From the moment I landed foot on JPL from the moment we left I was so fascinated by how JPL has evolved into something so advanced in technology and the understanding of the world and planet we live on.  What I found most interesting and cool was the clean room. To my discovery the clean rom has about 10,000 particles in the room and has about 1/2 microns or smaller of air particles in the room. There are air filters that make sure the air is as clean as possible. Nasa does not want to contaminate anything on the planets they visit so they keep everything very sterile. Currently Nasa is working on the Mars  rover. This mission is set to be r...

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a once in a lifetime experience that only a few people can say they have been. The lab has an open house once a year, where it is open to the public to tour the facilities and see live demonstrations of JPL science and technology. Otherwise, it is not usually open to the public and would be limited to the private tours that are available if scheduled well in advance. Just checking on the site, the tour needs to be book three weeks in advance (if there is availability) and must be with a group of 10 or more, which makes sense since one of the tour guides told me that their needs to be a facilitator for every three people (something like that), because it is a government building where vital work is done. The overall experience at JPL was pretty amazing. The entire day didn't seem real, in my head, I was confused as to why they would let someone like me come here. It was just so cool to see the clean room with the Mars Rover 2020 being built. Like ...

Sea Monsters on The Moon We love our moon so much that living on earth and seeing our moon every day might make us forget how many other moons there are. Jupiter, for example, has 79 identified moons, but there is one in particular that stands out. Europa is one of Jupiter's moons that may have the conditions to support life. If sea monsters lived on the moon, chances are they would live on Europa. NASA is currently working on a mission to go to Europa to figure out if life really could exist somewhere else in our solar system. They might not find a whole bunch of sea monsters on the moon, but there are pretty good chances that they will discover the conditions needed to support life. Europa in front of Jupiter NASA/JPL Caltech The reason Europa is so exciting is that its surface is made of water ice. NASA has estimated that the surface ice is 10-15 miles tick, but underneath that is an ocean of salty water. The possibility that Europa has an ocean underneath its surface ...

NASA Jet Propulsion Lab Nicole Daskas NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab was an incredible experience. There was so much information and so many events packed into just one day. It was overwhelming to hear about the prospect of life beyond earth, and to see what humans are capable of achieving. It was incredible to see the machinery and robots being built, and comical to hear that occasionally the simple solutions (such as zip ties) are the most effective.  The most exciting bit of information I heard was Sarah’s presentation. When asked where she thought the best chance of finding life outside of earth was, she answered jokingly, “sea monsters on Europa”. Everyone was very excited about this. Realistically, she explained, the most probable chance would be on either Europa or Io, as they have liquid water oceans on their surfaces. It would be absolutely incredible to one day hear about this discovery. The current missions, such as Mars 2020, are focused on looking for proof of form...

Olivia Collins Having a field trip to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was something I never imagined myself going to. Friends who are in science majors and science fields showed their jealousy that our class had the experience to go. The car I traveled with was so prepared and ready to go we got to JPL 30 minutes before everyone else. Going first to the clean room was the best way to start the day since we could see the people in their bunnysuits working. The 10,000 particles clean room, given this name due to the fact that only that many particles can exist in space, had the departing feature of the 2020 Mar Rovers. Even though the actual Rover was not currently in the clean room the machine that is going to drop it on Mars was just as impressive. Seems like a safer landing from the animations we were shown of the inflatable bouncing feature that has been used in the past.  As far as a favorite mission, after my previous blog post on Saturn it would have to be Cassini. Althou...

        The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was a once in a lifetime experience, soon I will get to experience it again, which I am so grateful for. Even before the tour, I was extremely overwhelmed by the uncertainty in our universe that I was about to discover. The first place we visited at JPL was the Class 10,000 Clean Room. Only 10,000 particles are allowed to exist within the space. The reason for only a certain amount of particles to live in the area is because they do not want human dust and DNA on the spacecraft they are building when they are trying to explore life on other planets. The new structure that they were making in the Clean Room was for the Mars 2020 Rover. The Mars 2020 mission is to bring back samples to Earth, seeking signs of life, and understanding habitability on Mars. The mission will be launching in July/August of 2020. It is an 8-month journey for the satellite to land the Mars Rover on Mars. It will be landing in February 2021. I noticed on t...

Whenever I think of space, my mind always wanders to think about alien life, whether it be plants, animals, or other beings similar to us. When we watched the short film about our solar system and the places that could potentially support life, either now or in the past, my mind was going absolutely wild. Truth being told, my focus in regards to life off of Earth has been pointed at Mars because of all the missions to our neighboring planet that have been highlighted in the news. I had never thought about the fact that other planets’ moons could host life, until the video highlighted Europa.   According to NASA, a mission called “Galileo orbited Jupiter for almost eight years, and made close passes by all its major moons.” The satellite used its camera and other instruments on board that send back reports that determined that “Europa probably has a subsurface ocean with more water than the total amount found on Earth” (NASA). Since water is one of the three necessities...

Sammy Keane The ability to visit NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA is a once in a lifetime opportunity as it has very strict security monitoring anyone that comes in and out. While there is so much to look at and immerse yourself in, I was immediately captivated by the “Eyes on the Earth” program. Just at first glance, you see a l arge globe-light figure in the middle of the room that is simultaneously controlled by a touch screen projection that is showing Earth and basically all that inhabits it. Created first by video gamers, this downloadable app gives information on what each Satellite looks like and its movement in real-time from a global perspective in an immersive, 3-D environment. To help “Eyes on the Earth” take off and become the mastermind that it is today, software engineers, 3D artists, information architects, data processors, and many other professions came together to build this spectacular program.  The “Eyes on the Earth” program can be used...