Our World: Plants in Space

Our World: Plants in Space

Find out how plants use light to make their own food in a process called photosynthesis. See how NASA uses LED lights to help grow plants in space. Design your own plant growth chamber like the ones used by NASA.

Our World: Instruments on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter [Archived]

Our World: Instruments on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter [Archived]

Meet Cathy Peddie, a NASA engineer working on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. Discover how the LRO will use color to learn more about the moon. [Archived 2014 - Not all missions make it from design to launch. These archived videos describe missions that that would have taken humans back to the moon and unmanned aerial vehicles to Mars. While the actual missions were aborted, the technology and science behind the missions pushed innovation to new levels.]

Real World: The Air We Share - The Connection Between Earth's Atmosphere and Our Health

Real World: The Air We Share - The Connection Between Earth's Atmosphere and Our Health

How does Earth's atmosphere impact our daily lives and, in particular, our health? Erika Wright, an education specialist from the Center for Astrophysics, helps us learn more about activities that impact Earth's atmosphere, and as a result, impact our lives. She tells us more about NASA's TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of POllution), an array of air quality instruments that daily scan North America's atmosphere, giving us hourly pictures of Earth's air quality.

Share this episode with your learners and encourage them to write about what they learn by answering these questions:

Discussions and writing prompts:

• What natural and engineered activities impact Earth's air quality?
• How are changes in air quality tracked over time?
• Why is it important to track Earth's air quality?
• What does the data from TEMPO look like?
• How can we use TEMPO data to help us stay safe?
• Why is it important to track Earth's air quality?

Real World: Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 [Archived]

Real World: Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 [Archived]

Discover how the Wide-Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope helps scientists see more. [Archived 2014 - Not all missions make it from design to launch. These archived videos describe missions that that would have taken humans back to the moon and unmanned aerial vehicles to Mars. While the actual missions were aborted, the technology and science behind the missions pushed innovation to new levels.]

Launchpad: Neon Lights - Spectroscopy in Action

Launchpad: Neon Lights - Spectroscopy in Action

Discover how scientists use spectroscopy to determine what elements are present in remote objects in space. By studying emission or absorption lines, astronomers can use the light an object emits to learn more about the object.

Launchpad: The Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope

Launchpad: The Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope

Get an overview of the electromagnetic spectrum and see how scientists are using the new Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope to look at the inconceivable amounts of energy produced by phenomena in space.

Launchpad: Infrared Astronomy on Mauna Kea

Launchpad: Infrared Astronomy on Mauna Kea

Discover how NASA's Infrared Astronomy telescope on Mauna Kea helps astronomers use different wavelengths of light to make the invisible visible. Learn about the Doppler Effect and heat signatures of faraway objects.

Launchpad: Wave Motion

Launchpad: Wave Motion

Join NASA astronauts on-board the International Space Station to learn about different kinds of waves and the transfer of energy that creates waves. Find out why NASA engineers are working to reduce the impact of waves on sensitive station equipment.