This activity relates an elastic collision to the change in a satellite?s or spacecraft?s speed and direction resulting from a planetary fly-by, often called a ?gravity assist? maneuver. Both hands-on and online interactive methods are used to explore these topics. Full description.

This activity is designed to introduce the engineering aspects of precision pointing of spacecraft. Full description.

This service answers users questions on a wide variety of topics in high-energy astronomy. Questions are answered by scientists within the Lab for High-Energy Astrophysics at NASA/GSFC. An archive of questions and answers are categorized by topic for users to browse. Suggestions for additional information resources are also provided. Full description.

In this interactive web game, participants learn about the different types of galaxies (spiral, elliptical and irregular) by viewing them in different wavelength bands (infrared, visible, x-ray). They then learn about active galaxies vs. quiescent galaxies by examining visible light spectra together with the multi-wavelength images. The final challenge is to observe a model of our own galaxy to determine ... Full description.

This educator?s guide features three curriculum enhancement activities and one scientific literacy activity, extensive background information, assessment rubrics, student worksheets, extension and transfer activities, and detailed information about the physical science and mathematics content standards. An electronic version of one of the activities is also available that uses a spreadsheet and image ... Full description.

This hands-on activity explores spacecraft radio communication concepts, including the speed of light and the time-delay for signals sent to and from spacecraft. Full description.

This site describes snow crystals and snowflakes. Although a common meteorological phenomenon, snow crystal growth is a fascinating and poorly understood process, in which remarkably complex and beautifully symmetric structures appear, quite literally, out of thin air. The many facets of snow crystals are described here, along with the attempts to understand their formation. Site highlights include ... Full description.

This site provides the user an opportunity to explore storm clouds and climate change through the use of NASA climate research data obtained through satellite imaging. The user is challenged to investigate actual scientific research data on clouds and storms, and make observations and interpretations available to NASA research scientists for review. Topics addressed by these investigations include ... Full description.

This non-mathematical, self-contained exposition of studies of the Earth's magnetic environment in space covers such topics as magnetism, electrons, eons and plasmas, the radiation belt, the sun and the solar wind, exploring earthspace, the dynamic magnetosphere, auroras, and interplanetary field lines. Many of the topics introduce the user to the related physics and astronomy, and are thus a useful ... Full description.

This site provides a non-mathematical introduction to the magnetism of the Earth, the Sun, the planets and their environments, following an historical thread. It is also available in French, Spanish, and German. Full description.