On October 3, 2011 NASA announced two contests for students. One contest is to rename NASA's GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) mission to the Moon. The other contest is a Cassini Scientist for a Day essay contest.
The contest to rename the GRAIL mission is open to kindergarten students through high school seniors. The student's teacher must submit the entry on NASA's online form by the November 11 entry deadline. The entry must include the proposed name for the Grail spacecraft and a justification for the name. The justification may range from a short paragraph to a 500 word essay. The two GRAIL spacecraft are currently named GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B. The GRAIL mission is designed to probe the Moon's interior by accurately measuring the gravitational force and may help test a recently proposed theory that Earth once had two moons.
The Cassini Scientist for a Day contest is open to students from 5th through 12th grades. Students must submit their entries online by October 26 at noon Pacific time. Students may work alone or in groups. The groups may contain as many as four students. NASA will judge the essays in three groups divided by grade level. The essays must choose among three possible targets that the Cassini spacecraft, a NASA mission to study Saturn and its moons, could observe. The essays must argue which of the three possible observations would yield the best scientific results. The possible targets are: 1) Saturn's moon, Hyperion, 2) Saturn's moon, Rhea, passing in front of another moon, Titan, and 3) Saturn itself. Winners of the Cassini Scientists for a Day contest will have the opportunity to participate in a teleconference with NASA Cassini mission scientists.
If you are a student, participate in one of these NASA contests. If you know students or are a teacher, tell your students about these contests.
Good Luck.
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